Harare — The Tanzanian airports regulator denied permitting the smuggling of wildlife from a park in the northern part of the country to Middle Eastern countries, BBC reports.
It comes in response to allegations made on social media that wildlife was being transported illegally on cargo flights from Loliondo, a town close to the renowned Serengeti National Park, to the United Arab Emirates.
The Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) called the charges “completely false,” stating that the Loliondo airport was neither a designated entry or exit point.
“The authority has a real-time monitoring system and all international flights enter and exit through designated entry/exit airports such as Kilimanjaro International Airport, Julius Nyerere International Airport and Aman Abeid Karume International Airport,” it reported to have said in a statement.
It advised Tanzanians to ignore the reports, claiming they were intended to harm their country’s reputation.