Zanzibar hotels ‘built with Mafia drug cash'

Hotels on the East African paradise island of Zanzibar are said to be laundering money for the Italian Mafia.

Over the past three years a large number of resorts have sprung up, particularly on the island's east coast, specialising in all-inclusive holidays for the thousands of Italians who go there each winter.

Germany's honorary consul to the island, Erich Meffert, has been quoted as saying he believes many of the resorts are being financed by drug barons who use Zanzibar as a hub for moving drugs around the world.

Until recently the Tanzanian capital, Dar Es Salaam, was used to transship heroin arriving from the Far East and cocaine from Latin America.

A crackdown by the authorities both there and in Kenya has forced many of those moving the drugs to relocate to Zanzibar, off the coast of Tanzania.

According to Meffert, their arrival has prompted the building of the holiday resorts as a way of laundering some of the profits made by the drugs gangs.

He said: "I cannot talk about such things on the phone as you never know who might be listening. There are lots of dangerous people here, and I've said too much already."

Zanzibar is a relatively easy place for drug barons to operate. The shaky state of the economy means few questions are asked about the origin of investments, and the local law enforcement authorities are considered powerless in the face of organised crime.

Two years ago the airport was privatised and has few security measures in place to check the thousands of Italian tourists who visit the island each year or the consignments of drugs heading for Europe and the USA.

by Miles Brignall