Wee Export Kingpin Remanded

THE ALLEGED Kingpin of the 1545 kilograms of cannabis sativa (wee) and 7.5killograms of cocaine exported to United Kingdom from Ghana has been remanded into police custody together with three other accomplices by an Accra Circuit Court.

Francis Kwame Asante, 64, who went underground when news broke that the said narcotic drugs had been seized at the Heathrow Airport was arrested by Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) authorities and the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) recently.

The three accomplices Charles Abodakpi, security supervisor; Abdon Dzata, customs officer and Samuel Aryee Tettey, tractor driver had earlier been remanded by the court presided over by Francis Obiri when they appeared before it on October 10, 2012.

The prosecutor, DSP Aidan Dery yesterday substituted the old charge sheet with a new one which included the alleged Kingpin as an accused person.

The accused persons were jointly charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit crime.

Asante had four additional charges of exportation of narcotic drugs without lawful authority. Abdon Dzata had two charges of prohibited business relating to narcotics while Abodakpi and Aryee Tettey faced one count of prohibited business relating to narcotics each.

They have all pleaded not guilty. Meanwhile, two other accomplices, Obed Amevor and Frank Amoah aka Kofi, were still at large.

Their lawyers wanted to move a motion for bail but they were handicapped because the charge sheet had been substituted by the prosecution. Even though they attempted to apply for the bail orally, the court declined the accused persons bail and remanded them to re-appear on October 22.

The accused persons were arrested following preliminary investigations conducted in the illegal exportation of the narcotic drugs to the UK. The cannabis was busted at Heathrow Airport, UK, after leaving Ghana undetected, recently.

DSP Aidan Dery informed the court that on September 24 and 25, 2012, the accused persons and those on the run allegedly played various roles in promoting and facilitating the exportation of the said narcotic drugs with a street value of 4.3million pounds.

The prosecutor stated that Abodakpi, a security supervisor at Aviance Ghana Limited, together with Tettey, a tractor driver at the said company and one Amevor, the security supervisor of Aviation Profile Security Services, allegedly connived with Dzata, the customs officer at the Scan Unit at the airport when they presented documents in respect of some foodstuffs meant for export in four consignments.

Dzata reportedly was to certify the consignment which allegedly contained narcotic drugs for their release to the Aircraft, claiming that the scanner had broken down.

According to the prosecutor, Dzata allegedly then certified same as having physically checked the consignments and released them for exportation.

Abodakpi and Amevor were said to have escorted the consignment whilst Dzata drove it to the aircraft.

The prosecutor disclosed that when the scanner broke down, the custom officer was mandated to invite the security agencies at the Airport such as NACOB, National Security and Aviation Security for a joint physical check for the consignments to ensure that nothing, incriminating was included.

However, DSP Dery said Dzata intentionally refused to invite the security agencies for the physical check but simply certified the documents upon sighting the consignments.

Also, he failed to make any notes on his occurrence book when the scanner allegedly broke down.

According to the prosecutor, information gathered from NICK TC Scan has revealed that the scan machine actually broke down on September 25, 2012, at 2:30 a.m. but that was after the consignments had already left the airport.