GHANA US COLLABORATE ON DRUG MENACE (Page14)

01/08/08
Story: Mary Mensah
Ghana and the United States of America have signed an agreement for the construction of a new drug interdiction facility at the Kotoka International Airport.
The $75,000 X-ray facility will help the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) to detect drugs on individuals and it is expected to greatly enhance the processing of drug traffickers and other criminals at the airport.
The Charge d’Affairs at the US Embassy in Accra, Ms Sue Brown, signed the agreement for her government, while the Director of NACOB, Mr Ben Botwe, signed for the Ghana government.
According to Ms Brown, the facility, which formed part of the Airport Security Enhancement Project, was being funded by the US Africa Command.
She said the agreement was another step towards strengthening the already significant level of law enforcement co-operation between the US and Ghana, saying it would increase Ghana’s capacity to combat the growing problem of narcotics trafficking in the region.
She indicated that the goal was to create a facility within the airport to support counter narcotics activities and said when it became fully operational, it would significantly increase the ability of NACOB and its partners such as the UK- supported Project Westbridge to detect narcotics traffickers.
“We are confident that the development of this facility will support efforts at drug interdiction. We look forward to building on this additional measure to strengthen co-operation between our nations in the area of law enforcement,” she said.
The Charge d’Affairs said the US remained a committed partner of Ghana’s in facing the challenges ahead.
For his part, Mr Botwe said transporting people who were suspected to have swallowed drugs from the airport to the 37 Military Hospital for X-ray had not been easy, saying that the new facility would help detect the drugs at the airport and suspects would no longer be sent to the hospital.
He said the facility would greatly assist NACOB in its work and thanked the US government for its continuous support in terms of equipment and training.
He said a number officials from NACOB had undergone training programmes both in and out of the country, with the support of the US government, and announced that some staff members of the board would undergo similar training in Botswana in August this year.