About Coltan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coltan
Investigations into the theft of a
consignment of tantalite worth $10 million belonging to a Rwandan company has
exposed a web of theft and corruption involving officials of key agencies and
departments in Tanzania’s government working in cahoots with cross-border
criminals.
So far, police have arrested senior
officers at the Tanzania Intelligence and Security Services (TISS), the
Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), Tanzania Minerals Audit Agency (TMAA) and the
Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) as they investigate how the consignment was
stolen in transit from Dar es Salaam port and sent to three privately owned
inland container depots (ICDs).
They are now pursuing a national of the
Democratic Republic of Congo believed to be in hiding in South Africa. He is
believed to be the mastermind of the syndicate.
The proprietor of a clearing and
forwarding company and his assistant, as well as a principal technician
geologist, and two other senior officials of private companies have also been
arrested while some two suspects are being interrogated.
Investigators recovered the container at
one of the depots, just as it was about to be exported, using different
documents.
While the tantalite (a rare black mineral,
also known as columbo-tantalite or coltan) was intact, its accompanying
documents now showed that it contained minerals worth $22,000 (Tsh35.2
million). It had an export permit issued by an officer of the Tanzania Revenue
Authority, Mohamed Ahmed Mbuku, showing that the consignment was destined for
Romania.
Apparently, the container had been
shuttled to different ICDs in order to shake off anyone trying to trace it.
The investigations began when Rwanda’s
ambassador to Tanzania, Dr Benjamin Rugangazi, called Tanzania’s Minister for
Transport, Dr Harrison Mwakyembe, to express his government’s displeasure over
the theft of the container.
The transport minister subsequently
summoned his Home Affairs counterpart, Dr Emmanuel Nchimbi, who ordered the
police to launch investigations.
Rwanda’s Trade Minister Francois Kanimba
said his government started monitoring the situation following complaints from
exporters that their minerals were being exchanged at Dar es Salaam port.
He, however, would not disclose the
identity of the owners of the container at the centre of investigations.
Rwanda’s annual exports of cassiterite,
wolframite and coltan, used in mobile phones and video-game consoles, may climb
to $400 million by 2015 from last year’s approximately $150 million as a new
mining code is enacted to boost production and investment in the sector.
According
to Dr Mwakyembe, the investigations revealed that the privately owned Inland
Container Depots that the government created to ease congestion at the port
were now being used to steal transit cargo.
The
EastAfrican has
also been informed that another suspect linked to the syndicate was arrested
after he was caught while removing servers from the Weights and Measures
offices at the port in a bid to destroy evidence in the case.
Source:
The
East African
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