NACOC says cocaine suspects were under surveillance for up to two years

The Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) says the suspects arrested in connection with the seizure of 3.9 tonnes of cocaine by French customs authorities had been under surveillance for between one and two years before their arrest.

Acting Director of Public Affairs and International Relations at NACOC, PNCO Francis Opoku Amoah, said the Commission began monitoring the suspects after their activities came to its attention through intelligence gathered by investigators.

He explained that the prolonged surveillance was intended to help investigators establish the suspects' connections and determine the appropriate time to carry out the arrests.

Speaking on TV3's KeyPoints on Saturday, September 19, Mr Opoku Amoah said the arrests were the outcome of an extended 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, further intelligence indicated that the suspected operation involved several individuals, prompting NACOC to expand the scope of its surveillance to identify and 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 arrests were part of an operation carried out last Sunday and were designed to prevent individuals linked to the suspected network from evading investigators.

The development comes as President John Dramani Mahama has directed the establishment of an inter-agency task force to draw up a comprehensive roadmap aimed at preventing the trafficking of narcotics through Ghana's borders.

The task force has been given two weeks to present its roadmap following an emergency meeting between President Mahama and the country's security chiefs on Thursday, September 17.

3.9 tonnes of cocaine seized in France

The latest investigation follows the seizure by French Customs on September 7 of a container of plastic waste shipped from Ghana and destined for Antwerp, Belgium.

A search of the container at the Port of Dunkirk uncovered 167 bales of cocaine with a total weight of 3.9 metric tonnes. French authorities estimated the street value of the consignment at €225 million, equivalent to about $261 million.

French authorities said the seizure was made after judicial police had already been investigating the network suspected to be behind the shipment.

France's National Jurisdiction against Organised Crime has subsequently opened an investigation into alleged organised importation of narcotics and criminal association.

The shipment has also been linked by Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf and Belgian newspaper HLN to fugitive Dutch national Jos Leijdekkers, popularly known as “Bolle Jos”.

Leijdekkers, 33, is wanted by European authorities 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, however, has said intelligence gathered by the Commission indicates that Leijdekkers did not travel to Ghana, although some of his associates were allegedly operating from the country.

The Commission said investigations into the case were continuing and did not rule out the arrest and prosecution of additional people believed to be connected to the suspected network.