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Last Updated: Sep 8, 2008 - 8:56:01 AM |
The aircraft which landed at Boke airport at 0400 hours on Thursday is
suspected to have come from neighbouring Guinea-Bissau, a state which
reports have indicated runs a risk of being a narco-state with value of
drugs being trafficked greater than its entire national income.
Drugs have become a general security issue in West Africa with
narco-dollars altering already weak economies of the region.
United Nations estimates that at least 50 tonnes of cocaine are shipped
through West African region every year.
Cocaine smuggling by Latin American drug lords with assistance of
senior government officials, is rife in the region, fanning political
turbulence and undermining investment confidence in West Africa. Drugs
experts go further to say Latin American gangs threaten to transform
small nations into narco-states.
In a separate raid on the same day, Conakry police and soldiers swooped
on a truck, allegedly loaded with cocaine and cannabis though
quantities seized were not revealed.
In July, close to 1, 200 kilograms of cocaine was seized in Sierra
Leone and Guinea Bissau, prompting donors and aid agencies to establish
judicial police, a unit mandated to fight drug trafficking in West
Africa. The unit received US$3.2 million from United Nations for
equipment and training to combat the crime.
Government of Guinea-Bissau has expressed its commitment to unravel
drug scandal, vowing that it would not succumb to death threats on the
lives of Justice Minister and Attorney General.
In August Sierra Leone president Ernest Bai Koroma announced urgent
plans to impose stiff penalties on drug traffickers, after a major
cocaine bust where drugs worth millions of US dollars were confiscated.
There have been concerns by regional and international bodies that
Guinea-Bissau and other west African states run risk of being overtaken
by drug cartels and becoming a "narco-state". Analysts said
government's lack of resources has been failing its efforts to confront
the menace.
Source:Ocnus.net 2008
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