Court remands alleged wee trafficker
A 46-year-old businessman who allegedly smuggled 6,240 kilogrammes of cannabis (Wee) to the United Kingdom was yesterday remanded by the Accra High Court.
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The accused, Kofi Appianin Ennin, was said to have shipped the drug in two 40-footer containers, which were also loaded with yams and gari between January and February 2015.
The drug was said to have a street value of $20 million.
He has been charged with four counts of exporting narcotics without licence and possessing narcotic drugs without lawful authority.
The plea of the accused, who has been in the custody of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) since his arrest on June 2, 2015, was not taken.
He is to reappear before the court on June 29, 2015.
Access to medication
Counsel for the accused, Mr Kwame Akufo, told the court, presided over by Mr Justice Abdullai Iddrissu, that his client was a diabetic patient who needed to take his medication to prevent his health from deteriorating.
However, he said, his detention in the custody of the BNI had prevented him from having regular access to his medication.
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The court subsequently ordered the prosecution to ensure that the accused had unfettered access to all sorts of facilities while on detention.
“We assume the accused person is innocent and is entitled to all sorts of facilities, hence must not be restricted from accessing his medication,” the court stated.
It added that the prosecution could only refuse access to medication for the accused if it doubted the authenticity of the medication.
“If the medication is certified by a medical doctor, the accused should be allowed to take them; we, however, do not want any other medication that would create problems,” the court added.
Background
Prosecuting, an Assistant State Attorney, Mr Fred Kusim Awindaohe, told the court that witnesses in the case were officers of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB).
He said in February 2014, NACOB received an intelligence report from the United Kingdom that a 20-footer container, numbered MSCU 0186777, had been intercepted with 112 sacks of “gari”.
“Out of this, 54 sacks were stuffed with compressed cannabis sativa, a narcotic drug weighing 3.240 kg,” he said, adding that the recipient of the container mentioned the accused as the one who exported the cargo.
The prosecution said between January 15 and February 10, 2014 while investigations were underway, another 40-footer container was intercepted at Gateway in London.
“A search in the container revealed 1,000 cartons of yams and 53 bags of gari; a total of 3,000 kilogrammes of compressed cannabis were found concealed in the boxes of yams,” the prosecution added.
It stated that documents covering the shipment were received and a witness, a freight forwarder, who was contacted, mentioned the accused as the person who assigned him to do the export on his behalf.
The witness, it said, led the investigator to the warehouse of the accused person at Ashiyie in Accra where the packaging of the export was carried out.
“Surveillance was mounted at the warehouse and living abode of the accused and on June 2, 2015, the accused was lured from his hideout to the warehouse where he was arrested.
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“A search in the warehouse revealed a number of card boxes with the label ‘FRESH YAMS PRODUCT OF GHANA’, jute sacks and plain polythene materials which were used in packaging the compressed cannabis in the yams,” the prosecutor said.
He said during interrogation, the accused mentioned one Jay as the alleged exporter of the drugs.