At least 151,899.54 kilogrammes of illicit narcotic drugs were on Friday destroyed by the Narcotic Control Commission (NACOC) at Bundase in the Ningo-Prampram district of the Greater Accra Region.
These include cannabis (46,128.29 Kg), heroin (37,725 Kg), speedball (10.7 Kg), cocaine (9,675 Kg), Meth and MDMA (3.17 Kg), and codeine (105,700 Kg) that were seized from suspects between 2021 and this year.
The exercise involved the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Drug Enforcement Agency, Police, Military, National Security, Ghana Standards Authority and other security agencies.
The Director General of NACOC, Mr Kenneth Adu-Amanfoh, revealed that the exercise did not only represent a visible act of justice, but a testament to the commission’s commitment to the rule of law, public safety, and community well-being.
“It is an essential step in our mission to protect our citizens and uphold societal values”, he said.
Mr Adu-Amanfoh said it was important for the country to adopt a broad educational, rehabilitation, and preventive approach or strategy in addressing the issue of illicit drug trafficking and abuse, as interdiction and law enforcement alone could not address the problem.
He commended the other security agencies for their support in the fight against illicit drug trafficking and abuse in the country.
Mr Adu-Amanfoh also reaffirmed the commitment of NACOC to work with local, regional, and international partners in tackling the issue of cross-border drug trafficking.
The director in charge of operations and enforcement, NACOC, Mr Solomon Stanley Eyo, explained to journalists that the cannabis that were destroyed were not part of those that individuals were licensed to cultivate for medicinal and industrial purposes.
He, therefore, cautioned the public against the illegal cultivation of cannabis, stressing that those who would be caught in the act would be arrested and prosecuted.
Mr Eyo also highlighted information and intelligence sharing about the cultivation and smuggling of cannabis, cocaine and heroin as a major challenge of NACOC, as community members who lived in hinterlands and coastal communities where these drugs were cultivated and smuggled failed to share information about the cultivators and smugglers.
“We’re talking of three major types of drugs here in terms of challenges. They are the marijuana, cocaine, and heroin. Marijuana is cultivated globally, and because they know that they are cultivating it on illegal terms, it is cultivated in the hinterlands.
For you to get to that place, you need informants to give you the information, but here they are mostly in the communities, so it is difficult for them to give out their own people”, Mr Eyo disclosed.
He, therefore, urged community members in the hinterlands and coastal areas to assist NACOC in tracking the cultivators and smugglers of illicit narcotic drugs such as cannabis for them to be arrested and prosecuted in accordance with the law.
BY BENJAMIN ARCTON-TETTEY
