Tanzania is to auction thousands of tonnes of brown sugar abandoned at the Dar es Salaam port by importers reportedly fearing President John Magufuli's tax crackdown.
The Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) has put the consignment in 44 containers for auction in the first week of October should its owners fail to show up and claim the cargo in 30 days.
A notice issued through the media on Wednesday listed the brown sugar containers among several other items that have overstayed at the port without being claimed.
But unlike all the other products, TRA did no list in the notice, the names of the companies that imported the sugar nor the consignees. The tax agency did not also divulge the quantity of the said sugar.
However, sources at the port say there could be about 1,000 tonnes of the sugar with an estimated value of between Tsh2 to Tsh3 billion ($900-1,400).
Read more: allafrica.com