Africa-Press – Mauritius. A former Governor General had once confided in private, after taking cognizance in March 1987 of the findings of the Rault Commission of Inquiry on Drug Trafficking, that he had been taken for a ride by the concerned authorities about the real drug situation prevailing in the country during his tenure.
It was that Commission, headed by a former Chief Justice, that for the first time lifted the lid on the scourge of drug trafficking and organized crime as well as the political-criminal nexus sustained by a few politicians and, by today’s standards, small-time drug barons. Its findings led to the interdiction and/or subsequent dismissal of a dozen or more of police officers, including some high-ranking ones.
Almost three decades down the line, the report of a second commission of inquiry, headed by former judge Lam Shang Leen, made public in 2018, again pointed to the political-drug traffickers nexus, involving amongst others lawyer-politicians; it also lamented the fact that the country does not have a single clearly defined drug agency.
The Commission recommended in particular that the Customs Narcotics section and the ADSU be dismantled and merged urgently into a single National Drug Investigation Commission. In parallel, government had recourse to a consultant who listened to various parties and published the 2019-2023 National Drug Control Master Plan.
The Lam Shang Leen commission’s report contained 460 recommendations, some of which would require, according to the government, legislative amendments before they could be implemented, and others were deemed to be impractical or impossible to implement.
In his reply to the Opposition leader’s PNQ, Monday 12th June 2023, the Prime Minister stated that as at date, over 80% of the 390 recommendations have been addressed.
He also informed the House that ‘for the period January 2015 to May 2023, more than 25,345 drug cases have been detected and around 22,000 persons arrested’, and regarding drug seizures, ‘the estimated street value of drugs seized stood at almost 15 billion rupees for the same period’ – we presume by the ADSU, which has been deemed by the Commissioner of Police (CP) not fit to be dismantled, despite Justice Lam Shang Leen’s recommendation to that effect – ‘as this would have created an institutional vacuum’ -, and by the Police Headquarter Special Striking Team set up by the CP himself in August 2022.
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