There seems to be an upsurge in the illicit trade of narcotics, specifically cocaine and marijuana in recent months, as law enforcement agents make various arrests. Currently, two middle-aged women are in the firm grips of the Asawase District Police Command in Kumasi for their alleged involvement in dealing in Indian hemp, popularly called ‘wee.’ This came a few days after Daily Guide exclusively reported that operatives of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) and National Security were agents of drug barons, tipping them with information to enable them to escape arrest. Among such alleged drug barons was Abubakar Nallah, fondly known as Abu Sondoko, owner of Tudu Mighty Jets, a Premier League club, whose arrest was reported in the Wednesday edition of Daily Guide. President Atta Mills had said in Wiki leak reports that he was aware security operatives were tipping off drug barons with information and that he was afraid some of his officials had been compromised. In the latest arrest, the two suspects were 40-year-old Kate Yaa Akyempim, a land-lady at Krofrom, and Akosua Anokyewaa, also 40, and a native of Nkoranza in the Brong-Ahafo Region. The suspects were nabbed when the police raided their home at Columbia in Krofrom and found four-and-a-half maxi bags of dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp in the early hours of Tuesday August 23, upon a tip off. They were held up in the police cells assisting the law enforcement agents in their investigations, the Asawase District Police Commander, DSP Nana Kumi told the press. According to him, the police received a tip off that some people usually deposited large quantities of dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp, packed in sacks, in a house at ‘Columbia’ in Krofrom. Equipped with this vital information, DSP Nana Kumi said the police patrol team, in the wee hours of August 23, 2011, made an unannounced visit to the said house at ‘Columbia’ in Krofrom. The police capo disclosed that they met the two suspects in the house during their visit and found the illegal items after a thorough search. DSP Nana Kumi said the police then apprehended the suspects and brought them together with the exhibits to the station for further investigations into the matter. Upon interrogation, he said, the suspects admitted that they knew something about the substance but at that stage they remained suspects while investigations continued. He expected however that they would soon be arraigned. According to him, Kate Yaa Akyempim was the land-lady, and Akosua Anokyewaa, a tenant, in the house in which the illegal substance was found. DSP Nana Kumi disclosed that Kate Yaa Akyempim noted that she travelled to Accra and that she returned to the house the same day the police raided the place. She said on her arrival from Accra, one of her children informed her that some people had dumped some items in sacks in the house in her absence and before she could ascertain what items they were, the police arrived. On her part, Akosua Anokyewaa told the police during interrogation that she had personally seen some people dumping the items in a sack in the house on three occasions but she did not know the contents of those sacks. DSP Nana Kumi promised to put the suspects before court very soon after his outfit had conducted investigations. Meanwhile, a security analyst with the Kofi Annan Peace Keeping Training Centre, Dr. Kwesi Aning has called on Parliament to enact a law that would make the narcotics trade in Ghana a national security threat. According to Dr. Aning, “until Parliament enacts a law that says that narcotics trafficking is a national security threat that then allows (NACOB boss) Akrasi Sarpong and his team to use alternative methods for extracting information”, Ghana would lose the fight against the drug trade. Dr. Aning was also of the view that if government really wanted to arrest the big drug barons or the ‘big fish’ in the drug trade, alternative methods including “chemical methods” to extract information from whoever was arrested in connection with the narcotics trade, was a must. He was sharing his thoughts on the arrest of some 15 persons believed to be staff of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), National Security and the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) at the Kotoka International Airport within the last two weeks. Some of the arrested persons were Fatimatu Abdulai, Jerry John Abio, Mutawakilu Yahaya Iddi, Dennis Adu Twum Gyimah and Timothy Abolimpo. Some police personnel attached to the National Security also arrested were L/Cpl Eric Akufo Darko, Sgt Peter Ansong and L/Cpl Yakubu Issaka. It was thought that Fatimatu Abdulai, a NACOB staff, was the operative who mentioned Abu Sondoko’s name during interrogations at the BNI. “For the past 15 to 20 years, the talk has just been world class but you know and I know that we are not just talking about narcotics in Ghana; we are now talking about ‘Narco-terrorism’ in which Al-Qaeda and the Islamic Maghreb know that we are badly infiltrated; know that the narcotics are coming in and that terrorists are coming down to Accra and other West African countries to attempt to buy narcotics in large quantities to carry across the Sahara”. Dr. Aning however described the infiltration of narcotics into Ghana as “unfortunate”, indicating that “it was only a matter of time before the front line institution itself, mandated to fight this canker, and would also be infiltrated because getting into NACOB and getting access into information and operational plans would be a major coup”.