The Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) says the suspects arrested for the recent cocaine busts in France are persons who the Commission have mounted surveillance on between a year and two years now.
Acting Director of Public Affairs and International Relations at NACOC, PNCO Francis Opoku Amoah, said the suspects had come under the Commission’s radar through their activities, prompting investigators to trail them and identify the appropriate time to make the arrests.
“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 will be a good time to pounce on them and make the arrest,” he said on TV3 KeyPoints, Saturday, September 19.
“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 who Europe and so many countries are looking for,” he added.
According to him, investigations also revealed that the activities involved more than one person, compelling NACOC to broaden its operation to ensure that all connected suspects were apprehended.
“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,” he said.
“And that is what we did,” he added.
The NACOC official said the coordinated approach was intended to ensure that persons connected to the activities were arrested as part of the same operation which was conducted last week Sunday.
Background
On September 7, French Customs at the Port of Dunkirk intercepted a container of plastic waste that had originated from Ghana and was 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 (about $261 million).
French authorities said the shipment was uncovered after their judicial police had already been targeting the network behind it. France’s National Jurisdiction against Organized Crime has opened an investigation for organized importation of narcotics and criminal association.
The seizure has been linked by Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf and Belgian newspaper HLN to fugitive Dutch drug lord Jos Leijdekkers, also known as “Bolle Jos.” Leijdekkers, 33, is one of Europe’s most wanted fugitives, sentenced in absentia to 24 years in prison in the Netherlands for trafficking nearly seven tonnes of cocaine. He is believed by Dutch authorities to be hiding in Sierra Leone.
Following the bust, NACOC on September 14 announced the arrest of three suspects in Ghana accused of representing and facilitating Leijdekkers’ network in Ghana. The Commission said they had been on its radar and under surveillance for some time.
In the Netherlands, a man from Dordrecht – where the shipment was reportedly destined for a business address – was also arrested on September 4 in connection with the consignment and has been remanded in custody.
NACOC says intelligence indicates that Bolle Jos himself has not entered Ghana, but maintains that his associates were operating from Ghana.
The Commission says investigations are ongoing and more accomplices will be brought to face the law.
