His Excellency the President of the Republic of Somaliland, Musa Bihi Abdi, Thursday, lauded anti-liquor and narcotics units of the Somaliland police force on the heightened vigilance they have displayed of late.
The President, at an occasion held at the Rapid Response Unit (RRU) quarters adjacent to the Police Command HQ, noted that the volume of drugs and illicit liquor apprehended during these last past months was enough to turn the whole country into an inebriated, drug-crippled ‘cabbage community’.
“I am more than gratified by the selfless effort that security forces have displayed. Without this kind of 24/7 dedication, none of these could have been intercepted,” he said, adding that a typical, devoted security officer clocked four or five times more time than his counterpart in civil service employ.
“We are aware of the time you put in and the hours your brains keep churning to keep up with a myriad of cares to attend to, risks to neutralize, security chinks to cover,” he said.
President Bihi revealed that liquor unlawfully smuggled into the country that the police seized before they entered the market during these last six months could have filled more than 1200 or so 200-litre barrels.
At the occasion, the President witnessed a display of more than 470 bundles of cannabis/marijuana that the forces discovered which were packed in sacks and concealed among other look-alike sacks containing vegetables imported from Ethiopia.
Mohamed Kahin Ahmed, Minister for Interior and Security, also speaking at the occasion disclosed that more than 1100 culprits were put behind bars during the same period on charges related to smuggled liquor and drugs.
Brigadier-general Mohamed Adan Sanqadhi, the Somaliland Police Commissioner, also, rounded up well-organized operations that the police forces have mounted against smugglers and contrabandists focusing on those attempting to turn Somaliland into a market and distribution point of drugs and alcoholic drinks which mostly came from Ethiopia.
Somaliland is one of those countries that have a zero-tolerance for drugs and liquor.
President stopped at the Rapid Response Units HQ and barracks on his way back from a city-wide cleaning campaign that the newly elected Mayor of Hargeisa, Abdikarim Ahmed Mogheh, called for.
The president and a covey of government ministers and director-generals participated in the garbage collection and trucking activities which brought together the government, business concerns and the public for the second time since the new council was sworn in earlier in the month.
EARLIER IN THE MORNING…
