‘Cocaine suspect has no diplomatic passport, not linked to First Family’
The Minister of Communications, Dr Edward Omane Boamah, has clarified that a lady arrested at the Heathrow Airport in London for possessing cocaine weighing 12kg is neither acquainted with President John Mahama nor his wife, Madam Lordina.
Furthermore, the minister indicated that the suspect did not hold a Ghanaian diplomatic passport.
A post on the minister’s Facebook wall indicates that the suspect’s real name is Nayeli Ametefe, who holds a Ghanaian passport and Austrian citizenship.
Her Ghanaian passport number is G03764497 and her Austrian passport number is P4187659.
She is reported to have gone through screening procedures at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) without any problems but was busted by border officials in London.
Ms Ametefe has been charged with attempting to import a class A drug.
The Border Force Heathrow Director, Mr Marc Owen, said, “This seizure has prevented a large quantity of drugs from reaching our streets. I would like to thank officers for their work in protecting the UK from this terrible trade”.
NACOB
Meanwhile, the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) has thrown more light on the arrest of the Ghanaian woman at the Heathrow Aiport in the United Kingdom for possessing 12 kilogrammes of cocaine.
According to a statement issued by NACOB, the suspect, Ms Ametefe, was arrested on Monday, November 10, 2014, while going through arrival formalities at the Heathrow Airport following a tip-off.
She had in her possession two suitcases but only one was checked in and bore a luggage tag number BA 059801, and when it was searched nothing of interest was found.
Ms Ametefe left the KIA on November 9, 2014 on board a British Airways flight number BA 078 from Accra to London.
According to the statement, signed by the Deputy Executive Secretary of NACOB, Mr Richard Niki-Lante Blankson, the suspect had also flown on a first-class ticket which had been purchased on October 8, 2014.
He said investigations so far conducted by the security agencies indicated that the ticket had been altered three times before she finally settled on a date in November to travel.
Mr Blankson said the suspect travelled on an Austrian passport and not a Ghanaian diplomatic passport, as was being speculated on social media.
She had in her possession two suitcases, one of which contained 10kgs of cocaine among her clothing, together with an ordinary Ghanaian passport which was issued on August 3, 2012.
Investigations are still going on to establish if she has been engaged in similar endeavours in other locations.