THE security agencies have a way of conducting their investigations and bringing charges against suspects. At the end of the day, the mission is deemed well accomplished if a solid case is established against the suspect, resulting in a conviction in a court of competent jurisdiction.
In certain crime situations, however, the fight does not end with just the conviction of criminals but by the extent to which leaders of criminal gangs and their accomplices are crippled in their criminal activities.
In syndicated crimes such as money laundering, smuggling, counterfeiting, drug dealing and many others, the police sometimes rush into jubilation even when a few people in the chain and who may not necessarily command any authority are put behind bars. This should not be, and the reason is very simple: Since the cult leaders are still free, it will not take long before fresh recruits are brought into the system to continue with the business of the criminal gang.
Drug trafficking is a major criminal menace confronting our country, just like many others along the West African coast. We are aware that the government, through the security agencies, has made clear its determination to clamp down on the crime and make the country a hostile place for drug traffickers and their foreign collaborators.
We all know that the drug business is a major one involving many people in a long chain — from the barons who could be likened, more or less, to the main wholesalers, through the sub-wholesalers, the bulk transporters, couriers, retailers to the final consumers.
From time to time, the arrest of suspected drug traffickers is given prominence in the media as part of the media’s contribution towards the fight against the canker. However, with the exception of a few cases, most of those arrests have been limited to couriers of very little quantities of cocaine, leaving the barons still lurking in the dark and pulling the strings.
Sometimes, in their excitement and zeal to be seen to be doing their work, the security agencies rush for media coverage when what may be seen as a major catch could only serve as a clue leading to the arrest of the real dons behind the chain.
In many instances, people with a few grammes of cocaine are arrested with a lot of fanfare when the big-time dealers still walk free because the security agencies have failed to conduct meticulous investigations into drug cases.
Very often, whether by design or mistake, they have jumped the gun, instead of following leads that will bring them closer to the real dons behind the business.
We cannot forget so soon how 76 parcels of cocaine vanished into thin air and the one retrieved mysteriously turned into kokonte, while the arrest of couriers with a few grammes who are only acting on behalf of the bigger guns are celebrated with fanfare. Even a limping man believed to be behind that haul managed to limp away to freedom after his arrest by the police.
A few years ago, a tailor who allegedly designed attires for drug couriers was arrested and his photograph splashed in the newspapers. In a serious security environment, the security agencies would not hasten to arrest that tailor or make public knowledge of it. Instead, they would mount a close surveillance on him and monitor all his customers for a period of time. Such customers may, in turn, lead the security apparatus to bigger people who are higher in the chain until, who knows, the main source of the drugs is traced and apprehended.
Elsewhere, there have been many instances when a little patience and good surveillance work have led to the arrest of drug barons. But here, these opportunities are sometimes bungled, either due to bad judgement or deliberately to cover up some people.
In one of the most recent of such cases, the security agencies were quick to arrest a clearing agent for clearing some containers in which substances suspected to be cocaine were found. We all know that clearing agents, as the name denotes, are not owners of shipments they clear from the ports. They are only agents for the importers for the purposes of going through the clearing procedure for a fee. They, like the port authorities and security agencies, could be outwitted by importers or criminals.
This does not necessarily mean that they cannot play other roles outside their legitimate clearing assignments on behalf of their clients. The issue is, until hard facts are established, it will be imprudent to come to hasty conclusions when a little bit of tact and intelligence work could establish criminality on their part or not and at the same time drag others into the net.
To arrest a clearing agent without carrying out a thorough investigation on the consignor or the consignee of the cargo or other persons in the business chain can let go a few others along the chain or be a deliberate way of overlooking serious factors in a criminal situations.
Perhaps our security agencies can learn a few lessons from their US counterparts in surveillance work. In November 2005, Mr Eric Amoateng, then a Member of Parliament for Nkoranza North, forwarded seven boxes of pottery to the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York via London.
When the goods arrived at the Newark Liberty International Airport, it was detected that they contained 136 pounds of heroin, with a street value of US$6 million.
The US security waited for Amoateng himself to arrive in the US on November 12, 2005, in the company of Nii Okai Adjei, a friend, and move the goods to a self-storage facility on Staten Island. All that while, Amoateng and his friend were being monitored by security personnel.
Cameras were mounted at vantage points and Amoateng was picked up the following day when they went there to inspect the goods. They were finally arrested after they had retrieved the goods and were heading out. Amoateng’s case is now history.
The long and short of it is that on December 12, 2007, he was jailed 10 years for distributing a controlled narcotic drug.
It was revealing that the US agents were not in any haste. The cargo had arrived in the US a day earlier than Amoateng and any arrests could have signalled him to take cover. In other words, he was not given any hint that the US security was interested in the cargo. He might have been making mental calculations of what the US$6 million could do when he walked into the warehouse to inspect the goods.
We may not have the vast resources at the disposal of the US and other advanced societies, but I believe we have the men and the women capable of doing proper surveillance work if they are given the encouragement and training. Strangely enough, we are not able to exhibit the same level of patience that could lead us to the real people behind the drugs that find their way into the country for local distribution or re-export.
We shall not in any way overlook the efforts of the security agencies in their battle against drug traffickers. We are aware that the drug war, even in the most sophisticated environment, is not an easy one and every day the drug gangs are devising more sophisticated ways of outwitting the law. All the same, we can do better than we are doing now, if we can improve upon our monitoring and surveillance mechanisms.
We have had enough of the small fries. We need to go in for the big catches now if we are to win public confidence and trust and debunk those unwritten perceptions that some of the big fishes are operating within the protective arms of big people in high places, in which case we are only blowing hot air in our avowed claim to be fighting the drug menace.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
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