Plane cleaner remanded for narcotic-related offence

Accra, Oct. 10, GNA - Richard Mensah, a cleaner of a KLM plane, on Wednesday appeared before the Greater Accra Regional Tribunal on charges of attempted exportation of narcotic drugs and unlawful possession of the substance.

Mensah's plea was not taken and the three-member panel chaired by Mr Justice Frank Manu remanded him in custody for two weeks to enable the police to complete investigations.

The Prosecution told the tribunal that at about 2045 hours on October 4, 2007 a security officer on duty in a KLM plane at the Kotoka International Airport spotted Seth Asiedu, another cleaner who is at large, taking a polythene bag from a hover he was using to clean the plane and pushing it into one of the toilets.

Prosecution said when the security officer confronted Asiedu, he told him the bag contained a parcel, which he and Mensah were to deliver to somebody in Amsterdam.

The Prosecution said Mensah arrived at the scene later, entered another toilet with the polythene bag and locked himself up. The Prosecution said when the security officer forced the toilet door opened, he saw Mensah in gloves unscrewing the ceiling panel and pushing the bag into the ceiling.

The security officer reported the matter to his superior officer and Mensah was arrested with the parcel in his possession. The Prosecution said when the parcel was opened in his presence it was found to contain three slabs of compressed whitish powdery substance suspected to be narcotic drugs.

When personnel from the Narcotics Control Board conducted a field test on the substance and they proved positive for cocaine.