Tanzanian police in collaboration with Interpol have seized 1.2 tonnes of ivory and arrested nine suspects in connection with the haul, investigators said on Monday.

Diwani Athumani, the east African nation's Director of Criminal Investigations, said the seizure of the 1.2 tonnes of ivory and arrest of the nine suspects followed a two-day special operation in June by the local police and the Interpol in southern and eastern African zones.

"The nine suspects arrested in connection with the ivory were among 256 suspects who were arrested in the operation after they were linked with different criminal offences," Athumani told a news conference in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.

He said the criminal offences linked to the 256 suspects as drug trafficking, human trafficking, possession of illegal firearms, illegal trading of minerals and theft of vehicles.

Athumani said other items seized during the operation were 116 firearms of different makes, 83 grams of heroin, explosives and detonators.

He said other seized items were 10 vehicles stolen from England, three from South Africa and two from Malaysia.

The police also seized 30 stolen motorcycles and arrested 43 illegal immigrants, including Congolese, Burundians, Rwandans and Kenyans.

(Xinhua News Agency July 11, 2016)