Why Parcel Of Coke Was Left On Ship

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday, 13 December 2006
THE single parcel of cocaine found on board the MV Benjamin vessel was to be used to pay the crew that brought the drug into the country.

Emmanuel Agyemang Duodu, a Principal State Attorney, said this yesterday when presenting the facts of the case prior to his inviting Detective Corporal Edward Yaw Asante as the first prosecution witness to testify before an Accra Fast Track High Court hearing the case of the 76 parcels of missing cocaine.

Two Chinese, a Korean and three Ghanaians including the vessel owner, are standing trial for their involvement in the disappearance of 76 parcels of cocaine from the vessel at the Tema Port.

The Chinese are Cui Xian Li, 44, a vessel engineer and Luo Yin Xing, 49, the Korean, is an engineer.

The Ghanaians are Joseph Kojo Dawson, 34, owner of the vessel; Isaac Arhin, 49, a sailor, and Philip Bruce Arhin, 49, a mechanic.

Li, Xing, Isaac Arhin and Bruce Arhin have all pleaded not guilty to two counts of engaging in a prohibited business relating to narcotic drugs and possessing of narcotic drugs without lawful authority.

Bok Sil pleaded not guilty to one count of engaging in prohibited business relating to narcotic drugs while Dawson pleaded not guilty to one count of using his property for narcotic offences.

Led in evidence by Mr. Duodu, the first prosecution witness (PWI), Detective Corporal Edward Yaw Asante, who is attached to the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), told the packed court that the vessel’s captain and the engineer, who are also known as Killer and Emma respectively, escaped with a boat at 4 am on April 26 after another boat had earlier at 2 am the same day carted 76 parcels away to the Kpone Beach.

He said a search team including the Air Force and Navy intercepted the only parcel hidden in the hatch of the vessel and when it was cut opened, 30 slabs, each weighing one kilogramme of cocaine, were found in it.

"I was asked by my superiors to interrogate Isaac Arhin and Philip Arhin and later Dawson," he said adding, "We could not arrest the Captain and the vessel engineer because the two escaped with a canoe before we got there."

Corporal Asante said Bruce Arhin and Philip Arhin told him during interrogations that the parcels they collected from the high seas were cocaine.

He further told the court that investigations revealed that the original owner of the vessel was called Mr. Bae, a Korean, but it was however bought by Dawson but before then Bok Sil was taking care of it.

He also told the court that investigations revealed that Dawson was not the person who put the crew on the vessel but rather it was Killer and Emma who had done it.

In another development, the prosecution presented two more witnesses in the case in which Kwabena Amaning popularly called Tagor, and Alhaji Issah Abass, are being tried for their alleged involvement in the same 76 missing parcels of cocaine.

The first witness was Mr. James Koligu Ataki, a Principal Scientific Officer of the Ghana Standards Board (GSB), who told the court that 25 slabs of cocaine and not 30 were brought to his department on July 26 for analysis.

He said he was invited by the Justice Georgina Wood Committee which investigated the missing cocaine case to identify the analysis they conducted on the cocaine.

Earlier, the court presided over by Justice Jones Dotse, over-ruled an objection raised by defence counsel against the tendering of the analysis report.

Ellis Owusu Fordjuor, counsel for Tagor, argued that the exhibits sent to the GSB were in respect of Philip Arhin and not Tagor and Abass hence the report would be irrelevant to the trial.

Also in the witness box was Chris Kumi Archer, a businessman. He told the court that he sold his house at East Legon to Nana Kofi at 110,000 dollars two years ago but later read in the newspapers that he in turn had sold the house to Tagor’s brother.

"I do not know this Nana Kofi. He only introduced himself as a businessman in the United States and I have not seen him ever since the transaction took place."

The case was adjourned to January 16, next year.

Also in the dock in a related case were the three policemen being held for their role in the disappearance of the 76 parcels.

They are Sergeant David Nyarko, Lance Corporals Dwamena Yabson and Peter Bundorin, all with the Tema Regional Police Command.

Detective Corporal Edward Yaw Asante, the third prosecution witness to appear before the court, told the court that he never knew the accused persons until "I met them in the dock at the Greater Accra Regional Tribunal a few weeks ago."

Hearing continue today.