LEN - www.lankaenews.com | A new drug from Sri Lankan drug traffickers..! 18 and a half tons of drugs disguised as fertilizer were seized while being loaded into Tanzania..! A Sri Lankan double was among them..!

A new drug from Sri Lankan drug traffickers..! 18 and a half tons of drugs disguised as fertilizer were seized while being loaded into Tanzania..! A Sri Lankan double was among them..!

-By Chandrapradeep

(Lanka-e-News -11.Dec.2025, 11.00 PM) Tanzania’s Drug Control and Enforcement Authority (DCEA) has seized 756 bags containing 18.5 tonnes (18,485.6 kilograms) of a new drug called Mitragyna Speciosa, which was being imported into the country as fertilizer. The drug was contained in a 40-foot container and was shipped from Sri Lanka to Tanzania.

Two Sri Lankans and five Tanzanians have been arrested by the DCEA in connection with the incident.

The two Sri Lankans are Jagath Prasanna Madduma Wellalage (46) and Santhush Ruminda Hewage (25).

The arrested Tanzanians are Riziki Abdallah Shawej (40), Andrew Athanas Nyembe (34), Mariam Shaban Mgatila (40), Ramadhan Sanze Said (57), and Godwin Melchory Maffeikiri (40).

This was stated today by the Commissioner General of DCEA, Aretas Lyimo, while speaking to journalists in Dar es Salaam.

30 tons in a few months...

He said this is the second time that a consignment of this type of drug from Sri Lanka has been seized in Tanzania. In June this year, 450 bags weighing more than 11.5 tons of a new drug called Mitragyna speciosa, described as fertilizer, were seized in a 20-foot container shipped from Sri Lanka.

Accordingly, in this short period, Tanzanian authorities have seized a total of 30,082.03 kilograms, equivalent to 30 tons of this new drug from Sri Lanka, described as fertilizer.

The new drug monster is made from a plant called 'kratom'..

Commissioner General Lyimo said that Mitragyna Speciosa is a new drug (New Psychoactive Substance-NPS) derived from a plant known as Kratom, which is mostly found in Southeast Asian countries.

In these countries, the kratom plant is also known as thang, kakuam, thom, ketum, and biak.

Commissioner General Lyimo said that the drug has similar effects to Opioid drugs (Heroin, Morphine).

“This drug affects the nervous system and causes addiction and sudden death. Due to the increasing use of Mitragym Speciosa worldwide, as well as the side effects caused by the toxins contained in this drug, many countries in the world have banned its production, transportation and use.”

Similarly, Commissioner General Lyimo said that the seizure of Mitragyna Speciosa is a sign of a new challenge in the war on drugs in the country.

Not a game...

This incident has revealed a new facet of the drug trade in Sri Lanka, where tons of ice and heroin are currently being seized. That is, the new drug monster is Mitragyna Speciosa. It is not a game to say that more than 30 tons were loaded from Sri Lanka to Tanzania. Sri Lankan drug traffickers may already be using another name for this drug.

The country's anti-drug program will be given another new task. That is, to find the new drug monster Mitragyna Speciosa.

(Based on a Tanzanian Daily News article - The seized container and DCEA Commissioner General Aretas Lyimo are also shown in the photos)