US commends Ghana’s fight against narcotics

Page 64: Daily Graphic, March 13, 2012. Story: Albert K. Salia GHANA’S efforts at combating the illicit narcotics trade in 2011 have received special commendation by the State Department. In its 2012 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report submitted to the US Congress on March 7, 2012, reckoned the President J. E. A. Mills continues commitment to “combating narco-trafficking in Ghana, most recently speaking against the illicit drug trade before the 66th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2011”. It mentioned some of the significant steps taken since 2010 to fight narco-trafficking and uphold the rule of law as the creation of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) to investigate organized crime, narco-trafficking, and other serious crimes, and the Financial Intelligence Center (FIC) to analyze and report on suspicious financial transactions as well as providing material support to the law enforcement agencies. The report, which is an annual report by the Department of State to Congress describing the efforts of key countries to attack all aspects of the international drug trade in a calendar year, further acknowledged the ten-year anti-corruption action plan by the government as well as the inter-agency national integrated programme to fight transnational organised crime. The Report acknowledged the collaboration between Ghana and her international partners in fighting the drug menace and cited the establishment of a Special Investigative Unit (SIU), the first of its kind in Africa, by the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) It said as a result of the excellent co-operation between Ghana and the USA on counter-narcotics, a second body scanner is currently being installed at the Kotoka International Airport. “AFRICOM is building a ship maintenance and docking facility to assist with maritime drug interdiction, and is also building the Navy a maritime territorial waters monitoring center”, it added, stressing that the US Embassy in Accra had formed an interagency group to examine maritime security issues, including narcotics landings along the Ghanaian coast and port interdiction. The report said NACOB and the Ministry of Justice were currently cooperating with DEA to extradite five narcotics traffickers (members of a heroin trafficking ring), who were arrested in a joint operation between DEA and NACOB in July last year, to the U.S. for prosecution. On supply reduction, it said, through June 2011, NACOB seized approximately 20 kilograms of cocaine, over four kilograms of heroin, and 86.5 kilograms of cannabis. NACOB arrested 28 individuals and convicted 15 in that time period. It said as a follow-up to the busting of the heroin ring, eight government officials from the security services were arrested in August, charged with assisting drug traffickers to transport drugs through Kotoka International Airport while the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) separately arrested three individuals assisting narco-traffickers at the airport. “As of late October 2011, the approximate street prices of one kilogram of drugs were as follows: cocaine - $38,000; heroin - $21,000, methamphetamine - $13,500; and cannabis - $32. A local abuse method for cannabis involves mixing the drug with liquor/spirits. Various pubs sell this cannabis cocktail upon special request from knowledgeable customers,” it added. The report said Ghana’s interest in attracting investment provided a good cover for foreign drug barons to enter the country under the guise of legitimate business. It illicit drug use was growing in Ghana with cannabis as the most abused illicit drug although the use of hard drugs was also on the rise. It quoted NACOB as reporting an increase in reported cocaine and heroin usage as evidenced by increased requests for treatment in 2011 compared to 2010. “Up to June 2011, there were 887 illicit drug users being treated at four psychiatric hospitals, with seven per cent being treated for cocaine abuse, and four per cent for heroin abuse, the remainder for marijuana, and some few for synthetic drugs”, the report said. On corruption, it said, the canker continued to be an issue in Ghana and pointed out an undercover video showing numerous agency officials taking bribes at Tema harbor in February . According to report, no arrests or prosecutions of those individuals are known to have occurred to date and indicated that “Ghana does not have laws that specifically target narcotics-related public sector corruption”.