NACOC: Cocaine suspects were under surveillance for up to two years

By: Godbless Asaana
‎The Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) says suspects arrested in connection with the seizure of 3.9 tonnes of cocaine by French customs authorities had been under surveillance for between one and two years.
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‎Acting Director of Public Affairs and International Relations at NACOC, PNCO Francis Opoku Amoah, said the suspects came under the Commission’s radar through their activities, leading investigators to monitor them before making the arrests.
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‎Speaking on TV3’s KeyPoints on Saturday, September 19, he said the arrests were the result of prolonged intelligence gathering and surveillance.
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‎“The people that we arrested are people that we have been working on for some time. What it means is that their activities have come to NACOC, and therefore we were putting surveillance on them, and we were waiting to see what time would be a good time to pounce on them and make the arrest.”
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‎Opoku Amoah said the suspects had links to a Dutch national, identified as Jos Leijdekkers, who is wanted in several European countries.
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‎”We could say between a year and two because of the intelligence we have and the connections they have with this Dutch guy who is at large and whom Europe and so many countries are looking for,” he said.
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‎He explained that NACOC’s investigations also revealed that the suspected operation involved several individuals, prompting the Commission to coordinate the arrests.
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‎“We also got to know that obviously, it was not one person, and therefore we need to make sure that all the people connected at the time, we get them and we get them at the same time if possible. That is what we did,” he said.
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‎According to NACOC, the coordinated arrests formed part of an operation conducted on Sunday as investigators sought to apprehend individuals linked to the suspected narcotics network.
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‎The development follows the seizure of a container carrying 167 bales of cocaine weighing 3.9 metric tonnes at the Port of Dunkirk in France on September 7.
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‎The container, which originated from Ghana and was destined for Antwerp, Belgium, contained cocaine with an estimated street value of €225 million, equivalent to about $261 million.
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‎French authorities said the seizure followed investigations into a suspected organised drug trafficking network. France’s National Jurisdiction against Organised Crime has subsequently opened investigations into the alleged organised importation of narcotics and criminal associations.
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‎The seizure has also been linked by Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf and Belgian newspaper HLN to fugitive Dutch national Jos Leijdekkers, popularly known as “Bolle Jos.”
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‎Leijdekkers, 33, is wanted in Europe and was sentenced in absentia to 24 years in prison in the Netherlands for cocaine trafficking. Dutch authorities believe he is currently hiding in Sierra Leone.
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‎NACOC has maintained that intelligence available to the Commission indicates that Leijdekkers has not entered Ghana, although his associates are believed to have been operating from the country.
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‎Meanwhile, President John Dramani Mahama has directed the formation of an inter-agency task force to develop a detailed roadmap to prevent drug trafficking through Ghana’s borders.
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‎The task force has been given two weeks to submit its recommendations following an urgent meeting between President Mahama and the country’s security chiefs on Thursday, September 17.
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‎NACOC says investigations into the cocaine seizure and the activities of the suspected network remain ongoing, with the possibility of additional arrests as investigators uncover further links.