PHOTO: Arrested drug traffickers and abusers
By Charles Gbayor, maorethason1997@gmail.com
HARPER, Liberia- Officers of the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA) have arrested ten Liberians for drug abuse and trafficking in the southeastern cities of Harper and Pleebo in Maryland County, 381 kilometers from Monrovia.
The arrests were made recently. And the men are currently being held at the headquarters of the LDEA in Harper, due to the lack of prison facility in the County.
In a big riot many months ago, citizens stormed and massively damaged the Harper Central Prison, which has not been rehabilitated.
The Chief of Operations of the joint security and LDEA boss in Maryland told www.newspublictrust.com that the 35 kilos of both substances seized are valued at twenty eight thousand Liberians and the men were arrested in both Harper and Pleebo.
Those arrested are Prince Toe age 24; Junior Bowman, 31; Melvin Toe, 25; Herryson Type age 19,and Sieh Bedell age 22 others are Christopher Wilson age 21; Prince Koffa, 18; Christopher Dosse, 28; Titus Elliot, 17; and Martha Weah, 65.
An elderly woman among those arrested
According to the LDEA Maryland County Commander, Joseph Tageddine, amid the increase in the crime rate in this county and as the festive season approaches, the LDEA has decided launched a security operation “sleeping wave”.
He said they are targeting hotspot for criminals and their activities.
“We have the constitutional mandate to protect life and property as security officers assigned in the county and we will do all we can to minimize the inflow of drugs in Maryland,” Commander Tageddine said.
The Maryland LDEA Commander disclosed that until January next year, his force will continue to arrest criminals from both Harper and Pleebo cities.
“In recent time we notice the high increase in criminals activities and from the beginning of this operation we have arrested 16 persons with 15 kilograms of high-grade Marijuana and (20)Kilograms of Thai white which is the street name of heroine,“ said he
“We are actually constrained with the issues of Prison Facility in Maryland, we don’t have facility to place these alleged suspects when we arrested them, we will have to transport them to Fish Town River Gee while they await court trail,” the LDEA Commander explained.
Commander Tageddine assures citizens and residents of the South eastern county of Maryland that they will have a peaceful and wonderful Christmas and New Year Celebrations as security officers in Maryland ensure their and property safety.
He praised the Community Watch Forum teams in Harper for helping in fighting crimes and harmful activities in County.