Mark Owen Woyongo, Minister of the Interior, has said the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) has been able to work for a considerable decline in drug trafficking.
He said the country had come a long way towards achieving this result, which had also reflected in the number of cases reported in the media.
Mr Woyongo said this when he visited staff and board members of NACOB, in Accra to familiarise himself with their operations, having been assigned to the Interior Ministry from the Ministry of Defence.
He said government is concerned about the hard drug trade because of its negative impact, especially on the younger generation.
“We are working steadily to end it,” he said. “Countries all over the world are minimizing trafficking.”
The Minister said painstaking efforts are needed to arrest drug dealers because it involved a complicated network, sp when narcotics control officials make an arrest, they are very pleased.
He urged the staff of NACOB to continue with their conscientious efforts and also widen their network to be ahead of the criminals.
Incentives
Mr Woyongo said officials who make more arrests should be rewarded and promised that the government will continue to pay the workers their remuneration so that they would continue to work hard.
He said a package of 200 million dollars for logistics for the agencies has been lodged with the Ministry of Finance and expressed the hope that it would be released soon so that they could get some assistance to facilitate their work.
Akrasi Sarpong, Executive Secretary of NACOB, said the salary structure of staff had been enhanced.
The NACOB boss said, the board would become an intelligence agency as a draft bill was before Parliament.
He said NACOB staff have been spread throughout the country and are working hard to arrest drug traffickers.
Source: GNA