Three Venezuelans arrested

Three Venezuelans have been arrested by security agencies in Ghana for allegedly, importing cocaine illegally into the country.

The three who were arrested last week and whose names are being withheld for security reason have since been detained for questioning and will be arranged before court after investigations and all trail procedures completed.

The Deputy Minister for Interior, Mr. Agyemang Manu made the disclosure in London when he addressed the leadership and members of the UK and Ireland branch of the New Patriotic Party.

The meeting was part of the branch’s periodic meetings with Ghana government officials to brief them on government policies and programmes and how the members could fit in to provide support to the government.

He said the government was in control of the security situation in the country and has also ensured that the drug situation does not in any way jeopardise the plans and security of the people of the country.

Mr. Manu noted that the NPP government has done more than any other government in the country, in terms of drug control and re-iterating that the recent cocaine issues was unfortunately blown out of proportion with the opposition taking undue advantage of it to paint a very negative image about the government and THE NPP.

The deputy minister observed that if the government had not taken the matter seriously, as was not done in the previous era, the issues could not have reached the dimension it reached. ‘It was all due to the fact that our government is truly a transparent one.’ He noted.

He said the cocaine issue is not as bad as the opposition would want the world to believe. The problem according to the deputy minister, ‘is that they are painting wrong picture of Ghana to the world.’

He said the government would do its part to ensure that the citizenry is safe from drugs and the people who deal in them.

Mr. Manu announced, ‘the government has teamed up with other governments and agencies with the logistics and know-how to find diverse ways to curtail the illegal exportation and importation of all harmful drugs in the country.

To this end, the deputy minister recalled that, currently officials from the UK customs and excise are assisting their counterparts in Accra to install facilities at the Kotoka International Airport to check the illegal movement of drugs by dealers.

He hinted that the plan was not only to check the movement of such dangerous drugs into and from the country, but more importantly to put in measures to ensure demand reduction.

Mr. Manu also touched on other programmes by the government such as the youth employment, capitation grant, the GETFund among others and noted that they are all aimed at improving the lives of the people.

He also expressed the optimism that the good people of Ghana would look at these and retain the party in power for the continuation of such good works.

He therefore called on the members to also work hard to support the party from the diaspora to retain power in 2008 election.

‘If we are able to sustain what we have done, by next two years, we may have a landslide victory in the elections’ the deputy minister noted.