The Liberia Drugs Enforcement Agency (LDEA) Bong County Detachment, Commander Joseph K. Gokor has described the sentencing of a notorious drugs trafficker, Henry Okeke a Nigerian national as a big boost for the LDEA.
Making the statement in Gbarnga, on June 6, 2023 in an interview with journalists, he said the 9th Judicial Circuit Court in Gbarnga, recently found defendant Okeke guilty of the crime of drug trafficking.
The court at the same time sentenced the defendant to nine years in prison at the Gbarnga Central Prison with the possibility of parole having served six years of his prison term in the county.
The Nigerian national was arrested by the LDEA Bong Detachment in May of this year at the Belefanai Checkpoint while enroot to Gbarnga marketing a huge quantity of heroin in the county.
The Liberia Drugs Enforcement Agency Bong County detachment placed the street value of the drugs as US$7,700 and over a million in local currency.
The Bong County LDEA Commander further revealed that of recent, they also arrested a 25-year-old drug trafficker identified as Naomi Tokpah with a huge quantity of drugs; charged and sent her to the 9th Judicial Circuit Court where she was found guilty of the crime and sentenced to two and a half years in prison.
Meanwhile, the LDEA Bong County Commander has launched an appeal to the Government of Liberia to help empower them and at the same time called on residents of the county to help provide information on suspected drug traffickers.
According to him, the lack of vehicles and motorbikes are the two major challenges they are currently faced with adding “We have to credit money from people to move around and now we owe gasoline sellers just to do an arrest by hiring commercial bikes.”
He said the only land-cruiser jeep that was used by his predecessors is currently down noting, “We want the government to help us with vehicles to make our job easier.”
commander Gokor said the effectiveness of the LDEA operations depends on the credible information citizens give them from the community adding, “It will be very difficult if a drug suspect is in a particular community, then you have people hiding such person; so if the community members themselves give us the right information, we will be able to arrest anyone who is engaged in the drugs business.”
