20100829
New Democrat
"The problem is bigger than imagined. Arrests and imprisonment are not the solution. There is a need for some social rehabilitation, somewhere to take these people. As we arrest and imprison them, they bounce back on the streets. It is a vicious circle," a police source, preferring anonymity, said in a serious mood.
"We watch many of them, living in toilettes and holes, die. They get high, lean on a tree with wounds and then just die. Marijuana is like cigarettes for them. Cocaine is what they sniff... They have no place to hide."
Last week, police, in a raid, arrested several persons belonging to drug gangs. Amongst them is a man police say is the ringleader of the drug dens entrenched in central Monrovia, spanning from Center Street towards Coconut Plantation along the Atlantic Ocean.
Police say the overwhelming numbers of users are ex-fighters in the various disbanded armed factions along with their commanders, some "very high profile" people.
Raids have become common in the drug dens and addicts are now accustomed to them, one resident said. Many of the users and carriers live in the slum and in the cemetery despite several efforts to get them out.
But suspect Nathaniel Beh later became a free man the same day he had been handcuffed and taken to the West Point Magisterial Court for questioning. This police say, is the pattern in a country with some of the weakest drug laws that encourage abuse.
Police say Nathaniel Beh sent his 'men' (drug users he sells the substance to) to attack the unarmed police of the Metro Police Station with machetes, almost subduing the law enforcers at that police post.
"There are police officers who work with them as partners and informers. Any planned swoop will always leak before officers arrive on the scene," the source lamented.
The police source claimed that obtaining a court warrant to search homes suspected as drug warehouses as required by law has been counter-productive because they (drug dealers and users) receive prior information through the very officers mandated to comb drug infested areas.
Police said Nathaniel Beh is also being supplied by three women, including one identified as Rizetta, Mammie and another lady identified as Natu.
Police at the Metro Police Depot said they have already identified the hideout these drug-marketing women who will not escape imminent arrest.
But at the Metro police station, several drug users gathered in solidarity with Mr. Beh when he was being processed for the West Point Court." This is our man the police cannot just carry him like that. God bless them the war is over... but they will see. That man will come right back in this place. Eh you say you press man but don't take our man photo. If you take it we will burst the camera. That #OOPS# your can be doing," one them said as saliva foamed from the corners of his mouth.
Amongst seven others arrested and charged with illegal possession of dangerous drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and Italian White (a dangerous drug) were four Sierra Leoneans and three Liberians.
They are Palino Bangura 22, Hasson Bangura 19, Moses Bayoking 19, John Doe 24, Prince Marshall 22, and John James, 33, notoriously known as Ray.
As police officers combed the entire Center Street Thursday and arrested several drug users, cheers echoed from community dwellers who themselves have often been accused of harboring these criminals.
"Oh God. Thank you for the police. They are doing well but we are sorry for them. These criminals will come right back here," an elderly women said.
Because of the constant combing of the Center Street Community notoriously known as 'Vlagba', the drug users fled to the community adjacent the Palm Grove cemetery where several of them were arrested Thursday.
There is a tunnel behind the Old Defense Ministry that the criminals use as route to elude the police. Many of the sellers and distributors, the source said, are women and girls.
One is the ex-girlfriend of Liberian musician. "They are well connected with the police and in the justice system," the source said.
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