BUJUMBURA, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Zanzibar has been suspended from the U17 soccer tournament of the East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) in Burundi for age fraud.

Youssouf Mossi, the tournament's organizing committee chairman, said Monday, "Before the match opposing Zanzibar to Sudan yesterday, the CECAFA officials checked passports of players and realized that 12 out of 20 players from Zanzibar were born before Jan. 1, 2012. This means that they were over 17 years old."

"We therefore decided to sanction Zanzibar," said Mossi.

According to him, as the remaining eight players of Zanzibar were not enough to play a football match, the CECAFA decided to suspend Zanzibar from the tournament, which is running from April 14-28.

Mossi also said Zanzibar will have to pay a fine of 15,000 U.S. dollars to the CECAFA. Besides, air tickets, accommodation and food related expenses of Zanzibar's players will have to be reimbursed, he added.

He further said three Ethiopian players were also suspended from the tournament after the verification of their passports before the game with Somalia on Sunday.