General News of Saturday, 29 September 2012

Source: Daily Guide

Sir John fingers NDC in Heathrow Airport cannabis arrest

The General Secretary of the opposition NPP, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie has claimed that the cannabis busted at the Heathrow Airport in London earlier this week on board a plane from Ghana, was being hauled by a member of the ruling NDC.

Border Force officials at the Heathrow airport on Monday busted 1.5 tonnes of cannabis in tape-wrapped compressed packages within boxes on a flight from Accra.

The drugs, which weighed around 1.5 tonnes and had a street value of £4.3 million, were found in three separate freight containers filled with fresh fruit and vegetables and reported as the biggest cannabis seizure in three years.

Five officials of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), Kamaldeen Awudu, Wolanyo Fiano ,Ibrahim Badoo, Marvin Amon-kotei and Ben Kusi Asante have been picked up by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) in connection with the latest seizure of cannabis in the UK.

However, commenting on the cocaine bust in the UK on Asempa Fm’s “Kukurantumi” programme on Saturday, the general secretary of the NPP noted that his party was aware, the owner of that cannabis is an “NDC man”.

Though he was unable to name the said owner of the busted cannabis, Sir John said the NPP will soon release detailed information to back their claim.

”we are aware the drugs were carried to the UK by an NDC man and in the coming days we shall bring the details out. We are reliably informed and will make everybody aware of what the NDC is doing to the country. They lied in the past and tagged NPP with narcotics which they are now paying the ultimate price for it”.

“The NDC in the past told us that cocaine, wee and other drugs have become a thing of the past and have now become a scarce commodity. Now what are they saying about this. It is shameful to the NDC and its government,” Sir John maintained.

He said the NDC is paying the price for branding NPP as a narcotic peddler’s party in the past and wondered whether the NDC can politicize drug issues in Ghana again.