Uganda listed in drug triangle
Oct 08, 2003
THE Police is acquiring more sniffer dogs in an effort to curb the war against narcotic drug trafficking and drug abuse
By Emmy Allio
THE Police is acquiring more sniffer dogs in an effort to curb the war against narcotic drug trafficking and drug abuse. The dogs will be used at Entebbe International Airport, border points and various container terminals in the country.
The Police say they urgently need more dogs, sophisticated scanners and drug testing kits, similar to what their counterparts in Scotland Yard and the Federal Bureau of Investigation use, to carry out on-the-spot checks on drug trafficking suspects.
Michael Were, the head of Anti-Narcotic Unit, said drug trafficking is on the rise in the country and catching the dealers has more difficult. The unit has only one sniffer dog trained to detect narcotics that has now grown old and is slowly losing its sense of smell. The unit wants the Government to acquire the highly effective Prey-9 German Shepherds dogs.
Sources say the US and a European country have pledged to give Uganda sniffer dogs and to train the officers working with them.
Airport security sources say the drug trafficking racket is fuelled by some security personnel who connive with the drug dealers and help them dealers to dodge check points at the airport.
Were admitted this saying that it had deterred the effectiveness of fighting the illegal trade. He gave example of an officer attached to Internal Security Organisation (ISO), who was arrested recently, for helping a woman carry luggage containing narcotics through the customs at Entebbe International Airport. The ISO officer identified as Ausi Kiiza, 30, is now detained at Luzira Maximum Security prison on charges of abuse of office.
Sources said that despite increased drug trafficking through Entebbe International Airport, the funding of the Anti-Narcotic Unit is not adequate. Police sources also say there is urgent need to amendment the law.
“Harsher penalties and heavier fines would greatly help to curb the racket,†says the source.
Records in the Anti-Narcotic unit for the months of January 2001 and June 2003, indicated a total of 8,190 people were netted as drug traffickers or consumers. Of this number, 7,200 people were netted in 2001.
Over the same period, 18.41kg of heroine and 412 gm of cocaine were impounded. The Police say cases of production and consumption of cannabis (marijuana) are also on the increase. The growing of cannabis is currently concentrated in Busia and Bugiri districts. Police records indicate that in the past 30 months, a total of 208,797kg of cannabis leaves have been impounded and 143,780 cannibis plants were destroyed.
Saleh Tabwe, the head of Joint Security Unit (JSU), at Entebbe International Airport, says the drug dealers have become more sophisticated and so the methods used to apprehend them must change as well. He said the old method of swallowing pellets is now hardly used at all.
“Drugs are now concealed inside machine spare parts, television sets, computers and cargo containers. We urgently need the sniffer dogs, modern scanners and testing kits if we are achieve anything,†says Tabwe.
He said the old method of catching the dealers used to be through intelligence tips where suspected people are observed and later searched.
The JSU, under the leadership of Lt. Col. John Mugenyi has over a period of time arrested several drug traffickers with big quantities of the drugs arriving in Entebbe mainly from Iran, Pakistan, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and other South East Asian countries. The USA has refers to this region that includes Afghanistan, as the “Golden Triangle.â€
The “Silver Triangle,†is the region in Andes and Amazon which produces over 80% of the world’s narcotics supplies. This region covers Columbia, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil.
The US, which is the ultimate destination of most drug producers and traffickers, refers to Africa’s drug belt as “Black Triangle.†The countries listed here include Uganda, South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria.
THE Police is acquiring more sniffer dogs in an effort to curb the war against narcotic drug trafficking and drug abuse. The dogs will be used at Entebbe International Airport, border points and various container terminals in the country.
The Police say they urgently need more dogs, sophisticated scanners and drug testing kits, similar to what their counterparts in Scotland Yard and the Federal Bureau of Investigation use, to carry out on-the-spot checks on drug trafficking suspects.
Michael Were, the head of Anti-Narcotic Unit, said drug trafficking is on the rise in the country and catching the dealers has more difficult. The unit has only one sniffer dog trained to detect narcotics that has now grown old and is slowly losing its sense of smell. The unit wants the Government to acquire the highly effective Prey-9 German Shepherds dogs.
Sources say the US and a European country have pledged to give Uganda sniffer dogs and to train the officers working with them.
Airport security sources say the drug trafficking racket is fuelled by some security personnel who connive with the drug dealers and help them dealers to dodge check points at the airport.
Were admitted this saying that it had deterred the effectiveness of fighting the illegal trade. He gave example of an officer attached to Internal Security Organisation (ISO), who was arrested recently, for helping a woman carry luggage containing narcotics through the customs at Entebbe International Airport. The ISO officer identified as Ausi Kiiza, 30, is now detained at Luzira Maximum Security prison on charges of abuse of office.
Sources said that despite increased drug trafficking through Entebbe International Airport, the funding of the Anti-Narcotic Unit is not adequate. Police sources also say there is urgent need to amendment the law.
“Harsher penalties and heavier fines would greatly help to curb the racket,†says the source.
Records in the Anti-Narcotic unit for the months of January 2001 and June 2003, indicated a total of 8,190 people were netted as drug traffickers or consumers. Of this number, 7,200 people were netted in 2001.
Over the same period, 18.41kg of heroine and 412 gm of cocaine were impounded. The Police say cases of production and consumption of cannabis (marijuana) are also on the increase. The growing of cannabis is currently concentrated in Busia and Bugiri districts. Police records indicate that in the past 30 months, a total of 208,797kg of cannabis leaves have been impounded and 143,780 cannibis plants were destroyed.
Saleh Tabwe, the head of Joint Security Unit (JSU), at Entebbe International Airport, says the drug dealers have become more sophisticated and so the methods used to apprehend them must change as well. He said the old method of swallowing pellets is now hardly used at all.
“Drugs are now concealed inside machine spare parts, television sets, computers and cargo containers. We urgently need the sniffer dogs, modern scanners and testing kits if we are achieve anything,†says Tabwe.
He said the old method of catching the dealers used to be through intelligence tips where suspected people are observed and later searched.
The JSU, under the leadership of Lt. Col. John Mugenyi has over a period of time arrested several drug traffickers with big quantities of the drugs arriving in Entebbe mainly from Iran, Pakistan, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and other South East Asian countries. The USA has refers to this region that includes Afghanistan, as the “Golden Triangle.â€
The “Silver Triangle,†is the region in Andes and Amazon which produces over 80% of the world’s narcotics supplies. This region covers Columbia, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil.
The US, which is the ultimate destination of most drug producers and traffickers, refers to Africa’s drug belt as “Black Triangle.†The countries listed here include Uganda, South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria.