Unpublished Article (MV Benjamin Vessel Owner and Five Others)

By William Yaw Owusu


Wednesday March 28, 2007
Isaac Arhin, one of the crew on board the MV Benjamin vessel charged with the importation of 77 parcels of cocaine into the country, is said to have admitted in a statement that he was the person who was asked by the Captain to change the vessel’s name to Adede II but could not do it.

“On March 13, 2006, on the high seas, the Captain asked me to change the name to Adede II at gun point but I could not do it so he did it himself”, Isaac Arhin, 49, was quoted as saying in his caution statement.

Detective Inspector Justice Oppong, the initial investigator read Issac Arhin’s statement yesterday in his evidence at the Accra Fast Track High Court trying the vessel owner and five others including a Korean and two Chinese.

The vessel owner, Joseph Kojo Dawson, 34, Pak Bok Sil, a Korean engineer; Isaac Arhin, 49; Phillip Bruce Arhin, 49, a mechanic; Cui Xian Li, 44, a vessel engineer and Luo Yui Xing, 49, both Chinese have been charged with various roles they played in the importation of the cocaine to the Tema Port.

Seventy six of the parcels are missing.

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

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

Led in evidence by William Kpobi, a Principal State Attorney, Inspt. Oppong told the court that he took Isaac Arhin”s statement on May 1, last year where the third accused said he was the second officer on the vessel.

Reading the statement further, Isaac Arhin was quoted as saying that he took care of the vessel which belongs to Dawson until February 15 when a Korean called Killer now at large, came to say that they had taken over the vessel and it was to be sent to Tema on trial after repairs.

He said Killer brought 10 tonnes of fuel and other items for use on the vessel and on the day they were to sail, the Captain told them that they were taking the vessel to Tema on trials and for further repairs.

“Hours into our voyage I realised that we were not going to Tema so I climbed up to the Captain”s bridge to find out where were sailing to but he pulled out a gun.So from that time I did not ask him anything again.I wanted to come back safely”.

“When we sailed for more than one week to the high seas around Sierra Leone and Liberia, two vessel came closser to ours and off loaded the parcels.The first consignment which were in sacks were 33 in number while the second in polythene bags were 44”.

He said they spent about two hours to offload the parcels on the high seas.

He said on their way to Tema which took 20 days, the Captain communicated constantly with somebody on land and because they spoke Korean he did not understand what they said.

In his further caution statement taken on August 23, Isaac Arhin said the Chief Engineer of the vessel also had a gun with him and that made it impossible for the rest of the crew to confront them and had to follow any instructions given them.

He further said at the Tema Port, people who looked like fishermen, numbering about 15 came to offload the parcels and sped off to the Tema New Town and Kpone direction.

In the statement of Phillip Bruce Arhin who is the fourth accused , he said it was Isaac Arhin who asked him to join the vessel because it was about to be tried after months of breakdown at the Takoradi Port.

He said in his statement that on the high seas the Chief engineer pointed a gun at him for finding out where they were sailing to instead of Tema as earlier told.

He said soon after offloading the parcels which they got to know after their arrest as cocaine an helicopter flew past the vessel on three occasions until it disappeared and added that the vessel clutch developed a fault when they sailed from Takoradi and it took them one week to repaire it.

He said Killer took the Chief Engineers car to meet them at Tema and when the parcels were being offloaded at the Tema breakwaters most of the people who came were armed with AK 47s and other weapons.

“It took them less than one hour to do the offloading.The Captain and the Chief engineer who were also armed did not did not say anything to them.”

He said he did not see how the painting of the vessel was done but once saw I saac Arhin bled from the left hand and when he found out Isaac told him that it was as a result of a scuffle he had with the Captain over the painting.

Earlier in Dawson”s statement taken on July 22,last year, he said Asem Darke, popularly called Sheriff, the man suspected to have carted the cocaine away chartered the vessel from him and added that Sheriff did not complete the payment before he took the vessel away.

The court presided over by Justice Annin Yeboah of the Court of Appeal adjourned proceedings until April 16, for Inspector Oppong to be cross examined by defence counsel.