Accra, June 15, GNA - A total of 35 Narcotic Officers on Thursday graduated from the Ghana National Fire Service Training School to augment government efforts at combating the disturbing drug menace in the country.

The graduation ceremony was the result of three months of robust training and tuition in the areas of enforcement and control, education and prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and social re-integration known in the United Nations Drug War Programmes as the Comprehensive Multi Disciplinary Outline.

The officers were also taken through surveillance, observation, intelligence gathering, airports and seaports profiling, drug abuse prevention, drug identification among other topics. Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, Minister of the Interior noted that the negative effects of drug trafficking had taken a centre stage in the country's development and that government would do all it could to combat the menace.

"The government as the initiator of this war is determined to do all that is necessary to ensure success. And we are most encouraged by the knowledge that government enjoys the total support of the nation", he said.

Mr Kan-Dapaah said some strategies had been implemented to wage war against the menace, adding, "the restructuring and strengthening of the Narcotic Control Board, particularly its human resource capacity, is one of the key issues that the government has decided to implement". He said government realised the important role played by the Board and was determined to increase its personnel by 200 per cent and establish regional offices across the country by 2008. Mr. Kan-Dapaah called on the officers to demonstrate high sense of commitment and loyalty to duty, adding, "any attempts to work behind your confines of duty would not be tolerated".

He said it was imperative for the officers co-operate with other security agencies and work as a team to achieve the desired goals, adding, "security agencies are not competitors: you are not there to outshine one another".

Master Jibril Ibn Yahuza was adjudged the overall best student while Judith Opoku Boakye and Cecilia Nkrumah took the second and third positions respectively.

The Narcotic Control Board was established in 1991 to combat the rising incidence of illicit narcotic drugs trafficking and abuse in the country. 15 June 07