Gemstone dealers are a class of businessmen that is after power and
status. Inevitably for some, their lives have come to revolve around big
money and organised crime. PHOTO | FILE
By Zephania Ubwani The Citizen Bureau Chief
(email the author)
Posted Sunday, September 15 2013 at 02:00
Posted Sunday, September 15 2013 at 02:00
In Summary
- The rendezvous is famous for the sale of gemstones, especially the rare tanzanite, between the brokers and small-scale dealers.
Arusha. A tinted Range Rover
arrived and parked on the sidelines of a busy street in the heart of
Arusha city. Its occupants are on their routine mission of business
transactions.
The rendezvous is famous for the sale of gemstones, especially the rare tanzanite, between the brokers and small-scale dealers.
Immediately after the vehicle was parked, two
motorcycles with four armed men got to the scene and ordered the driver
and his two passengers to surrender anything valuables in their
possession.
Eyewitnesses said at least two of them were armed
with pistols while another had a gun. The gangsters made away with
tanzanite gemstones whose value was estimated at about Sh5million.
But the scuffle did not end just like that. Two of
the dealers were critically injured through gun shots which rent the
air, hardly a kilometre from the central police station and other well
guarded areas.
The thugs sped away in broad daylight and are
still at large. The victims of the robbery had to be rushed to a
hospital in Nairobi for specialised treatment.
The incident took place only days after a
prominent tanzanite dealer in Arusha, Erasto Msuya, was gunned down in a
hail of bullets near Bomang’ombe town in Hai district, Kilimanjaro
region.
The killing sent shock waves across the three
northern regions - Arusha, Manyara and Kilimanjaro - mainly because Mr
Msuya had distinguished himself as among the most successful gemstone
dealers.
But for insiders in the industry, the incident was
yet another mysterious attack in the underground world of gemstones
where large amounts of money or the minerals are stolen and lives lost.
The scramble for tanzanite, a mineral found only
at Mererani some 60 kilometres from Arusha, has attracted several people
to the dusty township.
Among them have been jobless young men from nearby
towns as well as farther afield. Others are those with some experience
in mineral excavation after working in abandoned mines elsewhere in the
country.
There are also some business people who merely
opted to seek fortunes in the lucrative gemstone deals. These include
the brokers and dealers, some turning into exporters of the rare gem.
The scramble does not necessarily have to be in Mererani but
also in the streets of Arusha where several roads have been turned into
informal, open-air gemstone markets.
Incidentally, the business has turned out to be
very lucrative for the Maasai, who traditionally rely on livestock
herding for their livelihood. They now form the majority of
brokers/dealers downtown.
Licensed dealers and brokers have also opened
shops in the town while large and medium-scale operators have made
substantial investments. But these have not made tanzanite business safe
and secure.
The problem begins with the scramble for the
minerals inside the pits. This has seen diggers losing their lives or
getting injured while fighting for the best resources underground.
Characterised by poor security and safety,
hundreds of unlicensed dealers and smuggling of the minerals worth
millions of dollars outside the country, the tanzanite business has been
shrouded in mystery.
The recent killing of an Arusha businessman in Hai
district and shootings that followed downtown, took place only weeks
after the killing of an employee of TanzaniteOne who was working
underground.
Investigations by the police on the latter killing
in mid-July are still underway. But Mererani has seen similar deaths in
the past which have raised fears on the safety and security of the
industry.
Some killings have been seen to be pure robberies
with the gangsters taking advantage of the loopholes in the business to
ambush dealers possessing huge amounts of cash or the minerals.
In the past, such robberies were reported along the roads leading to Arusha from Mererani.
In the 1990s, other deaths occurred between Arusha
and Namanga, when dealers were taking the minerals to Kenya for export
overseas.
But for the last 10 years or so, killings have taken place right inside the mine pits.
Experts say the border lines between different shafts operated by different miners have not been clear, especially underground.
This is, however, not the only reason for the fatal shootings
underground.”The armed robbers who operate there would just storm into
an area they believe to have high grade tanzanite.
The diggers who resist, are shot”, said an
official of one firm. It could not be established how many gemstone
miners operate in Mererani.
Some of them, especially the large and medium scale companies, are licensed. Many others could be operating without licences.
Stories abound of deaths associated with rituals undertaken there by the miners in the hope of striking fortunes.
Many dealers believe hard work and luck were not
the only factors for making one rich overnight but that concoctions of
some charms could help.
Recently, there were reports of a kidnapped infant
which was blamed on one dealer. The baby was to be taken to Mererani to
be used in some rituals but was rescued by the police en-route to the
mining town.
Information about human sacrifice being used to strike more minerals has been very difficult to obtain.
But rumours abound on some human parts being
collected and taken to the mines as tools for sorcery. There are reasons
to believe so.
Mererani has been associated with some of the
horrific mining disasters in the country. In such incidences, while
people are pulling out bodies of trapped victims, others would perceive
the underground deaths as signs of abundance of gemstones.
However, much concerns have been on fatal
shootings like what happened to the late Msuya, a flamboyant, 43
year-old dealer who prior to his death owned several properties in
Arusha.
Countless such attacks have taken place in and around Arusha in the past.
One of these happened on October 28, 2009, when
another famous gemstone dealer called Justin Joseph was gunned down
outside his residence at night when returning home. The gunmen took
nothing from the victim.
The Tanzania Mineral Dealers’ Association (Tamida), a national
body of gemstone dealers based in Arusha, has been cautious to comment
on insecurity facing the industry.
But its chairman and a gemstone dealer operating here, Mr. Sammy Mollel, remarked after the recent killings:
“The government should ensure that the suspects
are apprehended. But more importantly, it must investigate if there is a
syndicate or network that aims to paralyse the industry.”
He warned that the gemstone sector could be in
trouble if it was associated with violence. This happened in 2001/2002
when false reports reached the outside world that tanzanite minerals
were funding global terrorism.
“Bloody minerals will not sell outside...we will
be in big trouble...we will be seen to be embracing violence,” he said,
without ruling out revenge, hatred or competition as the reasons behind
attacks on gemstone dealers.
Mr. Mollel added that mineral dealers from
Mererani have often been ambushed, robbed, killed or injured while
carrying their minerals to the Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA)
or to a neighbouring country for export.
Although many dealers or small-scale miners
venture into gemstone deals from humble beginnings, some grow rich
overnight, driving expensive vehicles and owning posh houses and other
properties.
With such great risks, many of them are known to arm themselves to the teeth for fear of being attacked by gangsters.
But this, too, has its repercussions, according to a business consultant based here and who spoke on condition of anonymity.
He said the whole tanzanite industry is not
co-ordinated and that government laxity has allowed the influx of
illegal aliens into the business either in Arusha or Mererani itself.
“Criminal gangs have taken advantage of the
loopholes. If it has been easy to mine and smuggle the minerals outside
the country, so it is easy to get a gun,” he told The Citizen on Sunday in an interview.
He wondered how some mineral dealers possessed up to four guns.
SOURCE: THE CITIZEN
SOURCE: THE CITIZEN
