Tanga — TANGA Regional Commissioner (RC) Mr Omari Mgumba has formed a ten-member team from various government institutions to probe fire outbreak which occurred during the wee hours on Monday at the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) warehouse located at the Tanga Port.
The team includes officials from Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO), Fire and Rescue Force, the President’s Office, the Police Force and the Prevention and Combating Corruption Bureau (PCCB).
Others are Government Chemists, the Attorney General’s Office, the Deputy Regional Administration Secretary of Tanga and Solicitor General.
Mr Mgumba disclosed on Tuesday, pointing out that the ten-member team will work for seven consecutive days to determine the cause of the fire.
“The team should be able to establish the cause of fire, whether it was due to power interruptions, chemical spill overs or just sabotage,” stressed Mr Mgumba.
In line to this, the RC ordered for all documentation relating to when the goods stored in the warehouse were purchased and received should be identified.
According to him, the fire incident occurred at around 2.30 am, when he obtained information from the Tanga Port Manager that the warehouse used to store TRA ordinary and smuggled goods had burst into flames. He notified all relevant authorities after obtaining the information for further action.
He applauded the fire and rescue force for doing a great job, despite the major loss that has been incurred due to the fire outbreak.
Among goods which were in the warehouse include sugar, cooking oil, bicycles and 370 packs of ‘vitenge’ and other 170 packs were still at Mkinga along with the two vehicles.
The last time he visited the warehouse was October 17th, this year, when he was inspecting whether the confiscated smuggled goods still existed.
“When the fire occurred an official with TRA who is a member of the Regional Taskforce on preventing smuggling was contacted by a colleague, who was at the scene to rush there, but he did not pick up the phone… he will be probed as well,” noted the RC.
He assured the residents of Tanga of strengthened security, maintaining that security forces are still following up in case of any information relating to the culprits or any other.
The RC urged them to continue with their normal activities.
The RC tasked the security and defence organs to strengthen the security and ordinary crackdowns in the entire region.
“We will continue to beef up security in all areas including banks, major trade and investment infrastructure and large factories the likes of Tanga Cement, GBP, the port and any other related areas that attract a big number of people,” he said.
On her part, the Tanga Fire and Rescue Commander, Fatma Ngenya noted that they succeeded in putting out the fire, pointing out that had they arrived late at the scene a major loss would have occurred.
A month ago, the Regional Commissioner led a team to conduct inspection at various areas where, they seized 170 packs of vitenge, whose documentation caused suspicion.
He urged the security and defence forces in Tanga Region to assess themselves, stressing that the government had all information regarding the smuggled goods.
“President Samia Suluhu Hassan was quite clear that we should make inquiries of rightful taxes and not be supporters of evading tax,” he said.