SLeone to tighten drug laws

2008-07-22 17:40

Freetown - Sierra Leone President Enrest Koroma announced urgent plans on Tuesday to tighten up the country's drug laws and impose tougher sentences after a record $100m cocaine bust.

"Cabinet has approved a bill drafted with the assistance of the UN Office on Drug Control to strengthen the legislative framework and the bill will be taken to parliament within the next 72 hours for enactment under a certificate of urgency," Koroma said in a radio and television broadcast.

Observers say the bill is likely to pass without opposition to make convictions for drug offences carry a mandatory sentence.

On July 13 Sierra Leone authorities discovered 600kg of cocaine in a Venezuelan plane which made a forced landing at the country's international airport.

The haul was a record for Sierra Leone and one of the biggest in West Africa this year.

West Africa has become an important transit point for drugs like cocaine coming in from South America en route to the lucrative European markets.

58 detained

According to Koroma the street value of the cocaine seized is $200m, and he added that there are still 58 suspects, including eight foreign nationals, detained in connection with the case.

He did not give their nationalities, but police had earlier said they were mainly South Americans.

"On no account will Sierra Leone be used either as a direct entry point or a final destination for the international trade in narcotics," Koroma stressed in his radio and television speech.

- AFP