Contraband minerals ready for auctioning

Mineral stakeholders visit a minerals showroom during the Arusha Gem Fair held in Arusha City yesterday. PHOTO | FILBERT RWEYEMAMU

Arusha. The government has started auctioning over Sh100 million worth minerals it confiscated at three airports, an official with the Tanzania Minerals Audit Agency (TMAA) has said.

TMAA has established desks at Julius Kambarage Nyerere International Airport, Kilimanjaro International Airport, and Mwanza Airport which impound minerals about to be smuggled.

“The minerals were impounded when they were being exported without permits,” the TMAA Valuation manager, Mr George Kaseza, told reporters on the sidelines of the 3rd Arusha Gem Fair.

The Minerals Advisory Board chairman, Mr Richard Kasesela, started auctioning the confiscated minerals on Wednesday at the fair which wound up here yesterday.

However, most of the culprits convicted of smuggling the minerals were not imprisoned, as they opted for paying fines depending on the type and amount of the minerals they were caught with.