Unpublished Article (2 Venezuelans)

By William Yaw Owusu
Friday February 16, 2007
A prosecution witness in the case of the two Venezuelans on trial for the importation of 588 kilogrammes of cocaine, yesterday told an Accra Fast Track High Court that about 18 different kinds of identification marks were found on the narcotic substance sent to the Ghana Standards Board (GSB) for analysis.

“I might not know the reasons for the marks but from my experience at the GSB, the marks indicate the countries where the drugs are produced,” James Koligu Ataki, a Principal Scientific Officer at the GSB who is also the sixth witness, told the court.

He was testifying in the case in which the two Venezuelans, Joel Mella, 35, a machine operator and Halo Cabezza Castillo, 38, a businessman, are standing trial for their alleged involvement in the importation of the cocaine seized in a house at East Legon, Accra, in November, 2005.

A third accused person, David Duarte Vasquez, said to be the brain behind the importation of the cocaine, is on the run.

Mella and Castillo have pleaded not guilty to four counts of conspiracy, importation and possessing narcotic drugs without lawful authority.

Led in evidence by Gertrude Aikins, Acting Director of Public Prosecution, Mr. Ataki told the court that there were symbols such as diamond, umbrella, pyramid, alphabets and numbers on the cocaine which had a gross weight of 646.4 kilogrammes. However, only 535.4 grammes of it was sampled.

He told the court that the team of analysts, of which he was the head, tested the cocaine according to the marks and results showed that it was of “high purity level,” which ranged between 62.1 per cent and 99.3 per cent. He said all 12 boxes brought in from the police were sealed and they sealed them back after the analysis, adding that 11 of them contained 38 slabs each and the last, 50 slabs.

He said they issued the report on the substance on April 18 last year.

Crossed-examined by Kwabla Dogbe Senanu, counsel for the accused persons, the witness said there was no GSB official present at the Police Headquarters where the exhibits were sealed.

The court adjourned the case until March 12, for the prosecution to bring another witness, the man said to be present when the police took the accused persons’ statements.