Tanzania arrests 13 suspects over killing of gold processing plant employees

Tanzanian police said on Friday they had arrested 13 suspects in connection with last month’s killing of five employees of a gold processing plant in Tanzania’s northwestern region of Shinyanga.

Mihayo Mshikhela, Commissioner for Special Police Operations, said police had also seized a firearm with two rounds of ammunition, a machete and five motorcycles used by the suspects to ambush the small-sized gold processing plants in the region.

“Police have succeeded in dismantling a syndicate of criminals that was engaged in ambushing small-sized gold processing plants,” Mshikhela told a news conference in Shinyanga region, adding that the arrests were made during a special operation that lasted for a week.

On June 30, at least five employees of a gold processing plant in Shinyanga region were slashed to death by machete at dawn by a group of unknown assailants.