Tanzanian police officers arrested

Police officers cannot be charged in a civilian court

By the BBC's Christine Otieno Dar es Salaam

Ten police officers are in detention after $350,000 was stolen from a Tanzanian police station.

The 10, including the officer in charge of the Msimbazi station in Dar es Salaam, will now be court-martialled.

The money had been earmarked to pay the monthly salaries of 600 police officers.

The embarrassing burglary came just two weeks after the inspector general of the police had told businesses not to keep large sums of cash lying in offices.

Forced open

The cash was taken from a safe in the office of the district's commanding officer, Honorotha Chuwa.

She had withdrawn some $540,000 on Monday and had handed out $190,000 in salaries, said Regional Police Commander Alfred Tibaigana.

The door to her office had apparently been forced open and her safe was discovered open with a few 500 shilling notes and coins strewn on the floor.

Two of the other officers arrested were found in possession of a total of $300.

Crime wave

Under Tanzania law, a serving police officer cannot be charged in a civilian court of law until they have formally been discharged from the force by a court martial.

Mr Tibaigana said those responsible would face the full force of the law.

Tanzanian businesses have been hit by a spate of robberies in recent months.

Large sums of money has been stolen - either from business premises or in transit.

The northern city of Arusha alone has seen over $40 million stolen in daring raids in the last six months.

In the light of this, Mr Tibaigana said last week that police would not investigate robberies if the company owners had not sought police assistance in guarding the money.