Pretoria - Only a handful of police officers can differentiate between “cocaine and flour”, “headache pills and Mandrax”.
This is the controversial claim of CrimeLine head Yusuf Abramjee who is advocating for the re-establishment of the Specialised Drug Unit in the police force.
Abramjee said his organisation was inundated with calls and messages from communities torn apart by drug abuse crying out for help.
“We believe the return of specialised narcotics units will go a long way to fight drug peddlers and dealers. We need specially trained units and officers to tackle this problem,” Abramjee said.
It was futile to arrest drug users as they are not the source of drugs, he added.
“Police need to get to the peddlers and dealers. With the help of communities and whistle-blowers, dealers can easily be caught,” he said. But it was important that officers could recognise drugs.
Pointing out that the source of the problem was rooted in the disbanding of the drug unit in 2004 – under the late police commissioner Jackie Selebi – Abramjee is campaigning for the re-establishment of the unit.
Abramjee’s call was heeded by Gauteng’s MEC of Community Safety Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane during the Department’s Youth Summit at the Johannesburg Prison on Tuesday .
Nkosi-Malobane agreed with the CrimeLine head and said her department would look into the restoration of the specialised unit.
“We do have a serious problem with drugs in our communities, but we need to target the smugglers to make sure we make proper arrests and this can only be done if there are well-trained police officers who are dedicated to one beat,” the MEC added.
Pretoria News