Fallout from cocaine saga; 9 More arrested
Nine more people have been arrested in connection with the 12.5-kilogramme cocaine bust at the Heathrow International Airport on November 10, 2014.
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They include the two ladies said to have travelled with Nayele Ametefeh, who was arrested with the drug at the Heathrow Airport.
They are Nana Akua Amponsah and Sadalia Sandra Nuhu, the women who had travelled with Ametefeh but believed to have abandoned their luggage and absconded from the Heathrow International Airport on realising that Ametefeh, alias Ruby Adu-Gyamfi, had been arrested by officials of Her Majesty's Border Agency.
Others are Paa Kwesi Acquah, Sandra’s boyfriend; Mustapha Kilba, a cousin of Akua Amponsah’s, and Faisal Khadar, an American.
The rest are Abdulla Mustrah, Mouiw Jaafar and Charbel Nasr, all Lebanese, and Mariotto Benard Young, an Indian.
The arrest of the nine people is part of the clampdown on drug trafficking by the security agencies in Ghana.
Their arrest brings to 12 the number of people arrested in connection with the case.
Earlier arrests
The other three persons, including an assistant Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Abiel Ashitey Armah, have already been picked up.
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The other two, whose names were given as Theophilus Kissi of the Research Department attached to the VVIP Lounge at the KIA, and Abubakar Ahmed, a civil servant, have since been remanded in custody to reappear in court on December 11, 2014. They were charged with abetment of crime, namely exportation of narcotics drugs.
Action
The Governing Board of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) became the first casualty when President Mahama dissolved it after the British High Commission had discounted claims that the board played a collaborative role in Ametefeh’s arrest.
A highly placed source at the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) told the Daily Graphic yesterday that the suspects were being interrogated for further action.
Ametefeh’s arrest has generated a lot of debate on the media landscape in Ghana and abroad.
Soon after the arrest of Ametefeh, the Deputy Executive Secretary of NACOB, Mr Richard Nii Lante Blankson, issued a statement claiming that NACOB had played a role in the arrest.
In an apparent attempt to fend off suggestions that there was official complicity in the deal, the anti-drug agency issued a statement claiming, among other things, that Ametefeh “was arrested on November 10, 2014 through the collaborative effort of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) and its British partners”.
British High Commission
The British High Commission in Ghana issued a statement saying the authorities at Heathrow had acted alone.