Over the past three years, United States authorities say, South American drug traffickers have worked to build a base in the West African nation of Liberia, where vast quantities of cocaine could be sent by boat or plane and then reshipped to markets in West Africa and Europe.

As part of the plan, the traffickers met with two senior Liberian officials, offering them millions of dollars in bribes to ensure safe passage for the shipments.

But what the traffickers did not realize was that both of the officials -- one of whom is the son of the country's president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf -- were secretly cooperating with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration to help break the foothold of drug rings in the region, a federal prosecutor in New York said Tuesday.

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The Ministers of Justice and Interior from ECOWAS Member States on October29, 2008 in Praia, Cape Verde adopted two main strategic documents, which renewed the region's fight against illicit drugs and organized crime.

The two documents would be presented for approval at the up-coming Summit of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government in Abuja, Nigeria. The documents are the region's Political Declaration on the Prevention of Drug Abuse, Illicit Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime in West Africa and the Regional Action Plan to Address the Growing Problem of Illicit Drug Trafficking, Organized Crime and Drug Abuse in the region.

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The Chief of the Anti Drug Section at the Liberian National Police (LNP), Col. Embra J.C. Harmon has stressed the need for the Liberian Government to strengthen the country's drug law in order to curtail the influx of drugs in the country.

He observed that current law on drug is weak as such, drug dealers take advantage of the weakness to import dangerous drugs in the country.

The Police Chief of Anti Drug expressed disappointment over the arrest of alleged drug dealers who are later released without going through the due process of law.

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The newly inducted Executive Director of the government's autonomous agency responsible to deal with illicit drugs, called the Drugs Enforcement Agency (DEA), Col. James B. Jaddah has promised a tough action against those who continue to deal in illicit drugs.

He said the agency will be deal with users of narcotic, illicit and psychotropic substances in the country.

Col. Jaddah said in order to reduce the high rate of the illicit drug consumption and forestall drug trafficking, distribution, and sales the DEA Director said his agency would work hard to reduce if not stop the use of illicit drugs. He the agency is working on a reduction by about 65% within the next six years.

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DEA Boss

The Executive Director of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Col. James Jaddah said about 45 per cent of Liberian youths live on drugs, most of whom are ex-combatants.

Col. Jaddah said the most common drugs used by them are marijuana and dugee. According to him the anti-drugs section statistics show that 80% of all ex-combatants fall within the ages of 12 to 30 years old that are drugs. "40% of the ex-combatants use dugee while 60% use cannabis," he noted.

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Catholic Director Cautions Youths

The Director of the Catholic Youth Secretariat, Andrews Nimely has cautioned youths against the use of dangerous substances, including narcotic drugs.

Mr. Nimely spoke at the first graduation exercise of the Student Aid Liberia (SAL) Inc., an institution involved with drug abuse counseling, last Saturday when he served as keynote speaker.

He said drugs are dangerous to the human person, destroys man's ability to think correctly, properly and effectively in making sound and valid judgment.

The Youth Director at the Catholic Secretariat said his experience during the disarmament process in Bomi indicates that many of the young people lived on drugs, noting that the common commodity one could find amidst economic difficulty was marijuana which, he said was sold for L$100 per roll.

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Kakata Police Say They're On Full Alert

The Liberian National Police (LNP) in collaboration with the International Police Service (IPS) yesterday burned several bags of narcotic drugs valued at US$1,224,000 in Kakata, Margibi County.

According to information, some plain-clothes officers of the security apparatus of Kakata assigned with the Ghanaian Contingent in the County recently arrested several bags of narcotic drugs or Marijuana.

Reports gathered by this paper revealed that buck of the burned drugs were taken from Bong and Nimba Counties where massive growing of marijuana is said to be on the increase.

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PSYCHIATRISTS HAVE ATTRIBUTED some of the widespread lawlessness in Liberia to drug abuse. They estimate that up to 70 per cent of the country's fighting forces - most of them child soldiers - continues to be users of illicit substances.

Thousands of children were conscripted into the fighting forces and made to take drugs so that they would be brave enough to fight - so that they will be cannon fodder for heartless warlords. Many of them became drug addicts and were even transformed into unquestioning "killing-machines".

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Abeokuta, Ogun - National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Ogun State chapter, has burnt a total of 12 tonnes of narcotics worth N12 million, which were confiscated by the Agency from suspected drug traffickers within the last nine months.

The public burning of the narcotics was carried out at the MKO Abiola Trade Fair Complex, Kobape Road, Abeokuta.

The destruction, which was the first of its kind in the state under the new commander, Mr. Layi Adekanmbi, included Indian hemp, cocaine and other drug-related substances concealed in bags.

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Built like a brick house and smoking marijuana like a train, Colonel Mohammed Jabbie sank back into his chair beside a checkpoint. He had killed many times, he boasted with a watery smile, pointing to the machine-gun by his feet.

"They call me Marabugu," he said, pulling hard on a spliff, "It means 'the death squad commander who always implements orders'." Outside, the river Po flowed lazily under a bridge, 12 miles north of the Liberian capital, Monrovia.

If the rebels returned, the muscular militiaman said, he was ready to fight. But with his leader Charles Taylor, fondly referred to as "Pappy", apparently preparing to flee, he had other ideas. "You think my only focus is the gun. But now we gotta do something. We gotta lift ourselves up for tomorrow."

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The Liberia National Police on Friday burned more than $2million US worth of illicit and dangerous drugs, including heroine, cocaine and marijuana.

At the burning ceremony at the National Police Headquarters on Capitol Hill, Police Director Paul Mulbah called upon the National Legislature to pass rigid and stringent laws against illicit drugs in society.

He said otherwise, "drugs will continue to haunt us, destroy our society and take us down the drain."

The police chief appeal comes in the wake of the submission of a bill to the Legislature for the enactment of tough laws against the sale and usage of illegal drugs in society.

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