The Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) has stated that the suspects arrested in connection with the recent seizure of 3.9 tonnes of cocaine by French customs authorities from a container shipped from Ghana had been under surveillance for between one and two years.
Acting Director of Public Affairs and International Relations at NACOC, PNCO Francis Opoku Amoah, said the suspects came under the Commission’s radar through their activities, prompting investigators to monitor them and determine the appropriate time to make the arrests.
Speaking on TV3’s KeyPoints on Saturday, September 19, Mr Opoku Amoah said the arrests followed a prolonged intelligence-gathering operation.
“The people that we arrested are people that we have been working on for some time. What it means is that their activities have come to NACOC, and therefore we were putting surveillance on them, and we were waiting to see what time would be a good time to pounce on them and make the arrest.
“We could say between a year and two because of the intelligence we have and the connections they have with this Dutch guy who is at large and whom Europe and so many countries are looking for,” he said.
According to him, investigations established that the suspected activities involved more than one person, compelling NACOC to broaden its operation to apprehend all persons connected to the network.
“We also got to know that obviously, it was not one person, and therefore we need to make sure that all the people connected at the time, we get them and we get them at the same time if possible. That is what we did,” he said.
Mr Opoku Amoah said the coordinated approach formed part of an operation conducted last Sunday and was intended to ensure that persons connected to the suspected network were arrested.
President John Dramani Mahama has ordered the formation of an inter-agency task force to develop a detailed roadmap to prevent drug trafficking through Ghana’s borders.
The task force has been given two weeks to submit its roadmap following an urgent meeting chaired by President Mahama with security chiefs on Thursday, September 17.
On September 7, French Customs at the Port of Dunkirk intercepted a container of plastic waste originating from Ghana and bound for Antwerp, Belgium.
The container was found to contain 167 bales of cocaine weighing 3.9 metric tonnes, with an estimated street value of €225 million, equivalent to about $261 million.
French authorities said the shipment was uncovered after judicial police had already been targeting the network behind it. France’s National Jurisdiction against Organised Crime has opened an investigation into organised importation of narcotics and criminal association.
The seizure has been linked by Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf and Belgian newspaper HLN to fugitive Dutch national Jos Leijdekkers, also known as “Bolle Jos”.
Leijdekkers, 33, is wanted in Europe and was sentenced in absentia to 24 years in prison in the Netherlands for trafficking nearly seven tonnes of cocaine. Dutch authorities believe he is hiding in Sierra Leone.
NACOC also said intelligence indicated that Leijdekkers had not entered Ghana, although his associates were operating from the country.
The Commission said investigations were ongoing and that more accomplices could be brought before the law.
Discussion about this post