Puzzle of 42 Ethiopians in two bedrooms

Dar es Salaam. Police in the city are holding 42 Ethiopian nationals who are alleged to have entered and lived in Tanzania illegally.

The immigrants were arrested yesterday morning in a two-bedroomed house on Mpakani B Street in Kijitonyama Ward, following a tip off by wananchi.

The Kinondoni Regional Police Commander, Mr Camilius Wambura, told reporters that his officers are holding the suspects at Mabatini Police Station for further interrogation.

“We are holding them at Mabatini for questioning; we want to know where they came from, where they were heading to… and they should also let us know when they arrived in the country,” said Wambura.

The RPC said the police and the Immigration Department are currently looking for a translator to help them interrogate the suspects as only one of the 42 suspects can communicate in English.

“We cannot use as a translator the one who knows English for he has vested interest in the matter since he is also a suspect,” said Mr Wambura.

The suspects, who include a woman, were living in a two-bedroomed self-contained house, which has only one mattress. The Citizen visited the house in which the suspects were living and found their hygiene wanting.

The owner of the house, Ms Salma Maganga, said she was shocked to learn that illegal immigrants were living in her house. She claimed that she has nothing to do with the suspects, saying that the rooms in which the immigrants were found were rented to a certain man (name withheld) some few weeks ago.

“The man who rented the rooms never stayed there for long, most of the time, he was just like me, so it was very difficult for me to realise that there were some foreigners who were living in my house. I only realised I was housing unwelcome guests when the police stormed the house earlier this morning,” Ms Maganga, who is also a Ten Cell leader, told The Citizen.

The police are also holding Ms Maganga for questioning while the hunt continues for the man who rented the two rooms of her house, according to Ms Wambura.

Some of the Mpakani B residents were shocked by the incident. Mr Mudy Waziri who owns a barbershop near the house where the suspects were arrested said he has never suspected anything like that.

“I always close my barbershop at around midnight but I never noticed anything suspicious; I can’t understand how so many people could be accommodated in just two small rooms,” said Mr Waziri.

For his part, Mr Juma Maganga, who is the son of Ms Maganga, said he has never seen the man who rented the house since the day he moved in. “Despite the fact that I live in the main house, which is near the rooms where the immigrants were netted, not only didn’t I suspect anything but also, I haven’t seen the tenant since he moved in some few weeks ago,” said Mr Maganga.

The arrest comes just a few days after the police in Njombe and Kilimanjaro regions arrested 31 people suspected to be illegal immigrants. Last Wednesday, the police in Njombe arrested 29 Ethiopian nationals who are alleged to have entered the country without entry permits. Apart from the Ethiopians, the police also arrested three Tanzanian drivers, who they accused of aiding the Ethiopians to enter the country en route to South Africa.