ANB-BIA SUPPLEMENT

ISSUE/EDITION Nr 389 - 1/05/2000

CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS

Togo  - The war against drug-trafficking

DRUGS

Over the past ten years, drug-trafficking in Togo has constantly increased

Not a day passes when the forces of law and order fail to catch individuals involved in this traffic. A judge suggests that Togo has become the hub of drug-trafficking for the region. Every week sees many traffickers brought before the courts. Since the National Interministerial Committee Against Drug-Trafficking (CNAD) was set up to coordinate the fight against drugs, nearly a ton of drugs were sized, and over two hundred investigations carried out in 1997 alone. According to General Sizing Akawila Walla, Home Affairs Minister with additional responsibility for Security and Decentralisation, more than two tons of drugs were destroyed in 1998 by his department. The figures for 1999 show a continuing increase.

The operations carried out concerned heroine, cocaine and cannabis. Indians and Pakistanis organise the traffic in heroine and cocaine, while Togolese and Ghanaians organise that in cannabis. According to a police officer, the traffickers in cocaine and heroine operate their business by getting to their destinations by air, mostly using Ethiopian Airlines and Nigeria Airways to enter the drugs into Togo. The couriers, well-dressed and groomed, always travel First Class. Once on board, their destroy their passports, using false ones to disguise their point of departure. They conceal the drugs in condoms which they swallow, washing them down with beer. Aware of this trick, police look out for any shady passengers among the arrivals.

Cannabis is cultivated by peasants in the countryside, especially in the south, well away from prying eyes. It’s sold in local markets in Benin, Ghana and even in Europe. From time to time, the police come across vast fields of cannabis. The peasants say they’re forced into growing it to make ends meet, when the prices of coffee and cocoa have reached rock-bottom. But the judges turn a deaf year to such arguments and impose heavy sentences, huge fines in particular. While a kilo of coffee or cocoa barely fetches 1,000 CFA francs, a kilo of cannabis can fetch more than 20,000 CFA francs. That’s what makes it so attractive to peasant growers.

In Togo, it’s the Ibos from Nigeria who come under greater police suspicion from drug trafficking. To hide their fortune, they sell second-hand clothing or spare parts for cars. They’re becoming more and more numerous in Lome, and, more recently, in the interior of the country.

A tricky fight

To counter this scourge, Togo, from 18 March 1998, has acquired a new law on drug control. This new law which criminalises drug-trafficking, cracks down heavily on this curse. All who grow, manufacture, transform or import drugs, are at high risk of incurring severe penalties of up to ten or even twenty years imprisonment, as well as fines between 250,000 CFA francs and 125 million CFA francs (Articles 98 & 99).

However, taking account of certain difficulties, judges are lenient in its application. Since drug-trafficking is a criminal offence, such cases are usually dealt with by an assize court. But the assize court only sits once a year, even though the number of traffickers arrested is rather numerous. So, in practice, to be more effective, traffickers appear in a lower court which imposes lesser sentences. On top of that, through lack of control, fines paid by convicted traffickers don’t always land in the State’s coffers. An officer of the law suggests that certain magistrates pocket some of the fines paid.

The Minister of Home Affairs states: «Togo, which has a number of arms founded on human rights and fundamental liberties, must work tirelessly to further its lasting and harmonious development in peace and security. In this context, our country’s priority, is the fight against organised gangs, juvenile delinquency, and the abuse and trafficking of drugs».

On the World Day for the Fight Against Drugs, Captain Wanta Badombena, permanent secretary of the National Anti-Drugs Campaign, urged young people to keep away from drugs. He underlined the dire consequences for health, of playing with narcotics. A «druggie» runs risks with the law, his social class, as well as with his own health.

The forces of law and order have more than one trick up their sleeves in overcoming the cunning of the drug-traffickers, who want to make Togo a narcotics paradise.