Bail For Cocaine Suspects Rejected

By William Yaw Owusu

Monday, 17 July 2006
Counsel for one of the two Venezuelans arrested for the importation of 588 kilogrammes of cocaine on Friday accused the prosecution of “twisting” facts to suit their prosecution’s case.

Mr. Kwabla Dogbe Senanu, Counsel for the second accused, Halo Cabeza Castillo, 38, a businessman who was in court for the second time to enter his plea, was applying for bail for his client.

But in a quick reaction, Ms Getrude Aikins, the Chief State Attorney who led the prosecution, refuted the allegation saying that Castillo and his co-accused, Joe Mella, 35, a machine operator, were being held on reasonable suspicion in accordance with the law.

Mr. Justice E. K. Ayebi, the trial judge, remanded the two until July 21 for full trial to commence, saying that counsel had not been able to convince the court that it should grant bail to the accused.

He explained that the accused had not been able to tell the police of their places of abode while the nature of their business was unclear and they had refused to surrender their passports.

The Spanish interpreter requested for the accused was in court to assist in the proceedings.
The two pleaded not guilty to three counts of conspiracy, importation of narcotic drugs without lawful authority and possessing narcotic drugs without lawful authority.

Before presenting the facts Ms Aikins asked the court to take judicial notice of the fact that, “What is being presented may not be the final investigation because the police are yet to track down a man called Vasquez who is believed to be their leader.”

On November 24 last year, police detectives, led by Superintendent Edward Tabiri, acting on a tip-off, went to a house with number 348 at Mempeasem in East Lagon, Accra and found Mella there.

“He was arrested and he led the team to the upper floor of the house where a thorough search was conducted,” the prosecutor said.

During the search, three bottles of ammonized substance used to turn cocaine into crack, a vacuum machine used to compress the cocaine into compact pieces, 13 gloves, white polythene wrappers and KLM Cargo stickers, were allegedly discovered among other items.

Other items found there were brown cellotape, a testing bottle believed to be for testing cocaine, exercise books showing records of sales, and cell phones showing contact numbers of business partners.

“When the officers peeped through the key hole of the room opposite that of Mella, they saw cartons packed there and therefore requested for the keys but he refused so the search team forced the door open.”

In that room, the prosecutor said, the police found a number of compressed and wrapped items in boxes. The Ghana Standards Board tested the contents to be cocaine.

She said Mella had claimed the cocaine belonged to one Shamo or Bude, but investigators revealed that it was Vasquez that he was referring to.

The prosecutor told the court that in another room some of the drugs had been mixed with water and Mella even advised the police to “separate it from the rest of the 588 kilogrammes otherwise the whole thing could get destroyed.”

In the process, Castillo came to the house and was also arrested. When his phone was seized the police found the same number which belonged to Vasquez on that phone.

Vasquez and a Dutchman called Vicente had set up a company called Compitex Limited and each owned 40 per cent of the shares with the remaining 20 per cent belonging to one Grace Asibi, the Ghanaian girlfriend of Vasquez.

She said the company was set up to do import and export business with Vasquez as the Managing Director, but “this business was a front for the narcotics trade.”

The prosecutor said Vasquez rented the house at a monthly rent of 800 dollars. He failed to secure entry visas for Mella and Castillo in August last year but managed to bring Mella on September 9, the same year.