Vice President and Justice Minister Raynold Oilouch confirmed reports that an officer of the Narcotics Enforcement Agency (NEA) had been investigated for alleged involvement on a drug trafficking case.
During the sidelines of the press conference at the Office of the President on Wednesday, Oilouch reiterated his stance against drug trafficking.
“If the officer is found to be involved, well you know my position as far as drugs is concerned, people has to be moved out,” Oilouch told Island Times in an interview.
According to Oilouch, the police had previously arrested a suspected big time drug trafficker and charges had already been pressed against the accused. Further investigation on the case however led to the name of the NEA officer (name not divulge as investigation is still going on), who is alleged to be a good friend of the suspect.
Oilouch said that there is no concrete evidence yet that was found against the officer so they had taken the action to move the cop away from NEA and transfer the officer to the Bureau of Public Safety (BPS) while the investigation is still ongoing.
“The officer claims that she[/he] has absolutely nothing to do with it and that she/[he] only knows the suspected drug dealer through other friends,” Oilouch said.
“We do not know for sure the extent of the officer’s involvement to the suspected drug dealer so we want to make sure that he or she is removed from this investigation regarding all the drug cases in Palau,” he added. (Rhealyn C. Pojas/Reporter)