Inter Press Service (Johannesburg)
25 July 2008
Nineteen suspects, including eight men from Colombia and Venezuela, have appeared before a Freetown High Court on charges of smuggling illegal drugs into the country.
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Sources at the Office of National Security here in Freetown told IPS the government plans to set up a collaborative partnership with its counterpart in Guinea Bissau to jointly deal with the problem.
"THAT'S AN ASININE STATEMENT COMING FROM THE OFFICE RESPONSIBLE FOR NATIONAL SECURITY.INDEED CHILDREN ARE IMPRESSIONABLE.TO TANGLE OUR FATE WITH BISSAU CAN ONLY BRING ABOUT ONE THING.AN ABSOLUTE COLLAPSE OF AUTHORITY IN SIERRA LEONE.GUINEA BISSAU CAN ONLY BE SALVAGED BY CONCERTED ACTION BY THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY,IT IS A DE-FACTO NARCO-STATE,THE FORWARD VANGUARD OF THE 21st CENTURY NARCOTIC INVASION OF AFRICA.WHAT WE ARE EXPERIENCING ARE PROBING FORAYS BY THE "NARCOS".THE ARMS OF GOVERNMENT MUST, WITHOUT ANY PARTISANSHIP DRAFT,APPROVE AND IMPLEMENT DRASTIC LAWS ON NARCOTICS.THE EXECUTIVE MUST USE ITS INSTRUMENT OF DECREE,WITHOUT FEAR OR FAVOR ORDER EVEN THE EXECUTION OF PERPETRATORS OF DRUG RELATED CRIMES."IF WE CLAIM TO BE LOOKING EAST,THEN WE MUST TAKE AN ADULTERATED CUE FROM THE CHINESE IN THEIR RELATIVELY SUCCESFUL WAR ON DRUGS.AS FAR AS THE WAR ON DRUGS IS CONCERNED.....IT MUST ALWAYS BE FOUGHT WITH "heavy artillery".
Mr President,with absolute admiration for you and with due respect to the neighborly state of Guinea Bissau,there is no need to address the cocaine trafficking syndicate in the country jointly, with Guinea Bissau which has been reported internationally,to state manage the ilicit trafficking.We can design our own local or national strategy to arrest the trafficking syndrome;by restructuring and linking the SLA and the police intelligence or narcotics squard attached at Lungi and every point of possible entry or exit.The borders security must be equip with the latest weaponry and communication devices to arrest, to jointly process and share information of high value targetting possession distribution and the transhipment of illicit substances.We must impose stricter penalties for cocaine and illicit substances related crimes.Good fences build good neighborhoods.HOWEVER,this is not to say that we dont need our neighbor's help in fighting against trafficking, of course we do.But the question is are some countries or governments pursuing the best practices to combat the trafficking of the cocaine?The answer to the question is hell no!and I mention no further names of countries which leadership is not innocent of the crime of trafficking.