'Gun maker’ operated near military training field

Acting Dar es Salaam Special Zone Police Commander Ally Mlege(center) and other official police, displays guns impounded by police at Kawe Mzimuni in the City at special operation.
Dar es Salaam. The suspect of illegally making guns in his house in Dar es Salaam lives near an open field used for military training.

The Citizen confirmed that the house from where the suspect was picked up is a stone’s throw away from a training ground for the Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF). The field is used by soldiers from Lugalo Barracks.

A spot check yesterday revealed that only one house stands between the suspect’s family home and the TPDF training ground, about 200 metres away. It is also a few metres from Kawe Primary School.

It is from this abode, in the city’s Kawe suburb, that on July 18 the police seized the suspect and his wife after stumbling on what appeared like a crude gun manufacturing plant. Seven arms of different calibres were found.

The couple and four other accomplices are still being held at the central police station as investigations continue.

Neighbours yesterday expressed shock at the developing story of a neighbour they described as “polite and well behaved.” He worked as a locksmith in the area and cooperated with other neighbours in various socio-economic activities.

At the deserted home itself, a woman there said to be a relative to the suspect declined to speak to Journalists. “I have nothing to say to you. If you want anything please speak to the police,” said the unidentified woman before slamming the door of the fairly big house.

Neighbours who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution said the house was owned by the suspect’s father who also lives there. The suspect, they said, has a wife and several children who put up in another house nearby.

According to a source, who lived a few metres from the suspect’s house, they never suspected anything fishy was going on. “Those living there are just normal people like us and many other Tanzanians.”

“I was just surprised when the police raided the house around 11am. I never thought anything as illegal as what we later come to discover was going on inside that house,” said the neigbour.

According to the source most of the people living in the neighbourhood were surprised as much as he did after the police raided the house and left with the suspect and his wife as well as some equipment.

“People in this neighbourhood referred to him as a lock smith and the house is also referred to as locksmith’s…we always took our keys and locks to the house when we wanted them to be repaired,” said another source. According to Acting Dar es Salaam Special Police Zone Commander Ally Mlege, the suspect was arrested following information provided by four armed robbery suspects.