In 2008, 2009, the Americans warned us – Inusah Fuseini recalls Ghana’s drug transit concerns
by Miss Naa · MyNewsGh.comFormer Tamale Central MP Inusah Fuseini has rejected attempts to treat Ghana’s narcotics problem as a new political development, saying the country has faced concerns over drug trafficking and trans-shipment for many years.
Fuseini drew on his experience as a lawyer who represented people connected to earlier drug-related cases, saying he had personally seen the consequences of narcotics trafficking in Ghana.
“When you go back to the prehistory of Ghana, we have been in this country, and I represented people at M.V. Benjamin,” he said on JoyNews’ Newsfile.
He also referred to the Vackers case and said his legal work had given him an opportunity to see how the system operated.
“I represented clients to understand how the system works,” he said.
Fuseini then recalled witnessing an earlier cocaine incident.
“I saw for myself the landing of cocaine at Pram Pram,” he said.
He also referred to the “limping man” case, a reference to an earlier high-profile drug trafficking episode that became part of Ghana’s narcotics history.
Fuseini said his concern about the drug trade therefore did not begin with the current political arguments between the governing party and the opposition.
He said the United States Drug Enforcement Administration had already warned Ghana in 2008 and 2009 about its increasing role as a trans-shipment destination.
“And that’s why in 2008, 2009, the American DEA warned us that we were becoming increasingly a trans-shipment destination,” he said.
Speaking on TV3’s The KeyPoints, Fuseini said the long history of the problem should make political parties more careful about turning narcotics investigations into partisan arguments.
“We are not dealing with the political aspect of it. I’m not dealing with the political aspect of it,” he said.
He said the central issue should be how Ghana can identify and disrupt the people and systems facilitating the movement of drugs.
Fuseini also argued that foreign intelligence agencies operating in Ghana could have an interest in identifying the local actors connected to international drug shipments.
He said the involvement of French or Belgian intelligence agencies, for example, could help establish the identities of people connected to consignments moving through Ghana.
His position is that Ghana’s narcotics problem should be approached as a long-running security and organised-crime issue rather than treated solely as a political weapon whenever a major drug shipment is intercepted.
He said investigators would need patience and intelligence to identify the full network behind the shipments.
“To be able to nab crime, to deal with all actors in the process, you need patience,” Fuseini said.
Source: MyNewsGh.com
Thanks for reading from MyNewsGH as a news publishing website from Ghana. You are free to share this story via the various social media platforms and follow us on; Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, Instagram etc.