The Narcotics Control Commission says the individuals picked up over the 3.9-tonne cocaine haul intercepted in France had been monitored for up to two years before their arrest.
Acting Director of Public Affairs and International Relations, Francis Opoku Amoah, disclosed that the suspects attracted the Commission’s attention through their dealings, leading to sustained surveillance until the right moment for apprehension.
Speaking on TV3’s KeyPoints on Saturday, September 19, he said the operation was the result of extended intelligence work.
“The persons we have arrested are people we have been tracking for a while. Their conduct came to our notice, so we placed them under watch and waited for the opportune time to strike,” he stated.
“We are talking about between one and two years, based on the intelligence gathered and their links to the Dutch fugitive being sought across Europe,” he added.
He explained that investigators uncovered a wider network, which required a coordinated swoop to round up all linked persons at once.“We realised it was not a one-man operation, so we had to ensure everyone connected was arrested together as much as possible. That is exactly what we did,” he noted.
Mr Opoku Amoah said the simultaneous arrests formed part of an exercise carried out last Sunday.
President John Dramani Mahama has meanwhile set up an inter-agency task force to draw up a comprehensive plan to block drug trafficking through Ghana’s frontiers.
The team has two weeks to deliver its blueprint after an emergency meeting with security chiefs on Thursday, September 17.
French Customs at Dunkirk Port on September 7 intercepted a Ghana-origin container declared as plastic waste but headed for Antwerp, Belgium.
Inside were 167 bales of cocaine weighing 3.9 metric tonnes, valued at about €225 million, or roughly $261 million.
French officials said the consignment was detected after judicial police had already been monitoring the syndicate.
The National Jurisdiction against Organised Crime in France has launched a probe into organised drug importation and criminal conspiracy.
Dutch outlet De Telegraaf and Belgian paper HLN have linked the shipment to wanted Dutchman Jos Leijdekkers, popularly called “Bolle Jos”.
The 33-year-old was sentenced in absentia to 24 years in the Netherlands for moving nearly seven tonnes of cocaine and is believed by Dutch authorities to be hiding in Sierra Leone.
NACOC said intelligence shows Leijdekkers himself has not been to Ghana, though his associates were operating from here.The Commission added that investigations continue and more suspects could face prosecution.
