Mogadishu police warn of drug abuse

In special anti-crime operations launched last month, Mogadishu police have arrested a dozen people on drug charges, and seized large quantities of drugs, a senior police official told IRIN on Thursday. The Mogadishu police chief, Abdi Hasan Awale Qeybdid, said over the past two weeks police had seized over 400 kg of cannabis in the city. The districts of Hamar Jajab and Hodan in south Mogadishu and Jaaqshiid in the north had accounted for most of the cannabis found, he said. Qeybdid said drug abuse and trafficking had become so rampant in the city that he had set up a special task force to fight the menace. He blamed much of the city’s crime problem on drug abuse, and said “many incidences of rape were directly related to drug abuse”. He said the police needed assistance if they were to succeed, and appealed to the international aid agencies working in Somalia to help with training, drugs education and equipment. Qeybdid said those arrested would be brought to court soon.