Kick Drugs, Play Sports – A local campaign by Operation WestBridge
Operation WestBridge is a joint operation between Ghana and the UK to tackle drug trafficking.
“Kick Drugs, Play Sports”- A local campaign by Operation WestBridge
Operation WestBridge is located at the offices of the British High Commission in Accra. In Ghana, Operation WestBridge has introduced a local campaign dubbed ‘Kick Drugs, Play Sports’. This campaign begun in 2007 and has since been of great benefit to many schools and charities without focusing on any particular one.
In December 2012, WestBridge decided to focus on a particular organisation so they could provide consistent support and tr have adopted the Accra Senior Boys Correctional Centre (Borstal Institute) for its local campaign ‘‘Kick Drugs, Play Sports’ with the aim of encouraging inmates to concentrate on sports and keep away from drugs and crime. WestBridge wants to build and develop a relationship with the Institute to help in reforming the children.
In December 2012, Operation WestBridge made its first donation to the Borstal Institute, donating some sports items including football jerseys, baseball caps, key rings, pin badges and cricket sets which were sourced from the English Football Association and the England Cricket Board.
Launched in November 2006 in Ghana, Operation WestBridge has chalked quite a number of successes in its bid to stop drug trafficking. It was built on the on the success of a similar initiative, Operation Airbridge, in Jamaica which focused on intercepting drug couriers with internal concealments of Class A drugs before off-loading them from planes arriving from Jamaica.
The Borstal Institute, Ghana’s premier and only juvenile correctional institute that caters for both male and female young offenders and juveniles. It houses about 115 young persons who undergo various apprenticeship programmes in technical and vocational training to enable them integrate back into society.