I'm Not Cocaine Baron

The MV Benjamin cocaine saga in which over 70 parcels of cocaine disappeared into thin air, is resurfacing, as one of the convicted persons, Alhaji Isa Abass, has strongly contended that he has nothing to do with cocaine.

Isa Abass, who was freed along with his fellow jailbird, Kwabena Amaning alias Tagor, after serving part of his sentence in the MV Benjamin cocaine saga, has spoken out about what for him was the undue association of his name with cocaine a few days ago.

He charged during an Oman FM radio programme yesterday in Accra, saying: “Enough is enough, I will take action against anybody who will persist in this path.”

He was reacting to recent alleged comments by ACP Kofi Boakye, former Director of Police Operations, that the ex-convicts were known cocaine barons.

Abass said, “The subject, which became everybody's toothpaste in the days that it hit town, is a dead issue now and should be treated as such.”

He asked to be left alone to gather the broken pieces of his life after spending three years in jail- a period during which he said he served in various prisons in the country.

On the alleged ACP Kofi Boakye description of him as a drug baron which triggered his reaction, he discounted the utterance, explaining that as a Superior Police Officer, such a remark was not necessary since, by his position, he had the authority to take the necessary action if indeed he had identified a drug baron.

“I find it surprising that this subject is resurfacing even after a court has found it necessary to release me from prison,” he said, adding that he lost so much in business and reputation while in prison and should be left alone to repair the damage.

His son who was at the Cambridge University went through a lot of trauma when his friends incessantly called his attention to media reports about the incarceration, he added.

Abass directed all curious persons to go to the archives to find out whether there was anything suggesting that he was a drug baron.

“I really do not know what Kofi Boakye was talking about when he made the reference to me as captured in an Accra newspaper,” he said.

He said, “I was jailed for 15 years but an appeal court, after serving 3 years of the sentence, ordered my release. It was a lone judge who was convinced by my defence.”

On whether he was a New Patriotic Party (NPP) sympathizer, he said, “I have no relationship with the party. I have friends in both parties. I am a businessman. I was jailed under the NPP but I appealed against the sentence and had my freedom under the NDC.

I used to do business with the Police even under the NPP, as a supplier. Indeed, I only secured a contract during the party's turn at governance not because of a special favour as a party man,” he said, stressing that he did not want to be reminded about those terrible days when he was in prison.

Meanwhile, ACP Kofi Boakye, now head of Ghana Police Training School, has denied allegations that he had said the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration kept close links with cocaine barons.

A recent edition of the Network Herald newspaper carried a publication suggesting ACP Kofi Boakye had told some friends of his in London that the NPP government fraternized with ex-cocaine convicts Alhaji Issa Abass and Tagor, even though he knew the two as drug barons who should be busted.

The paper also reported that ACP Boakye had said that the rumpus that was triggered over his meetings with Issa Abass and Tagor was uncalled for as he did that with the ultimate aim of securing information to arrest the barons and their accomplices.

The former Director of Police Operations was interdicted after the disappearance of 76 parcels of cocaine from the MV Benjamin shipping vessel while Issa Abass and Tagor served prison sentences.

Mr Boakye dismissed the allegations against him and said the newspaper misrepresented him. He spoke off-air to the producer of Joy FM's 'Super Morning Show', Kofi Ansah.

According to Mr Boakye, although he had conversations with his friends in London pertaining to the cocaine saga which dominated the headlines for months, he did not make statements as being suggested by the newspaper.

Asked whether he would act on the allegations against him, Mr Boakye said he had been speaking to his lawyers and would go public at the right time on the matter.

ACP Kofi Boakye was interdicted for several months after the Georgina Wood Committee, which investigated the disappearance of the substances, recommended his prosecution.

Ex-President Kufuor recommended the reinstatement of Mr Boakye a day before leaving office but upon assuming office, the Mills Administration appointed the ex-Police Director of Operations as head of the Police Training School, while it ordered further investigations into his conducts.

By A.R. Gomda