WE CONGRATULATE the Police Narcotic Squad for last week's remarkable arrest at Tema of a group of expatriates and their Ghanaian cohorts who had allegedly brought into the country a mind-boggling 678 kilograms of almost pure cocaine.

Obviously meant for transshipment to the lucrative European market, the stuff is projected to have a street value of over $140 million!

As we pat the Police on the back for a job well done, we hasten to add that the affair raises some troubling questions. Above all it shows the spectre of this country as a safe haven for dubious "foreign investors" who are abusing our legendary hospitality by engaging in criminal activities, which hurts Ghana in the long run.

One hundred and forty (guesstimate) million dollars is serious money. The Chronicle submits that this is also the time for the government to take a SERIOUS LOOK at the "underground" economy in this country.

For example there is massive capital flight out of this country, day in, day out. It is also common knowledge among businessmen that Ghana is virgin territory for money laundering; from gambling windfalls to narco-dollars. Plus anything else in between!

Need we tell you that these so-called "foreign investors" and businessmen, as well as shadowy, fly-by-night experts and consultants would not find things so easy if they were not aided and abetted by greedy, selfish and unpatriotic citizens. These are the type of people who, in search of meat, can cut out their own tongues and roast them!

The underlying factor that has provided such fertile ground for these practices is the all-encompassing corruption that has suffused our national psyche. Whatever the outcome of this sensational case, we would not be far off the mark when we postulate that this may just be the tip of the iceberg. Much more water may have already passed under the bridge.

More frightening, the rains may not have even started!

The Chronicle believes this incident should serve as a wake-up call to the government and the security forces. With crime becoming increasingly sophisticated, the security agencies must be given everything required to enable them perform better.

In addition, a holistic anti-crime system approach should be adopted. Our security agencies must work in tandem, with ideally a central integrated database into which information is pooled for better analysis.

Only such an approach can hope to make an appreciable impact on the massive but unseen sophisticated crimes now going on in almost all sections of society.