By William Yaw Owusu
Wednesday, 06 June 2007
Sergeant David Nyarko, one of three policemen standing trial in connection with the missing 76 parcels of cocaine, yesterday told an Accra Fast Track High Court that he was not present at the Kpone Beach when the parcels of cocaine were loaded onto a van by Sheriff Asem Darke, the police’s most wanted man and his men.
He also told the court presided over by Justice Annin Yeboah of the Court of Appeal that he never followed Sheriff to his house in Community 5, Tema to collect money and left the fugitive off the hook.
Sgt Nyarko was testifying under cross-examination in the case in which he together with Lance Corporals Dwamena Yabson and Peter Bundorin, are charged in connection with the missing cocaine brought into the country on April 25, last year, by the MV Benjamin vessel.
They were alleged to have collected an undisclosed amount in US dollars from Sheriff who is wanted by the police in connection with the importation of 77 parcels of the cocaine, 76 of which were offloaded at the Kpone beach near Tema.
The prosecution led evidence to show that the policemen saw Sheriff at the beach offloading the cocaine but left him and his accomplices to go.
A fourth policeman, Detective Sergeant Samuel Yaw Amoah, who allegedly played a leading role in the case, escaped soon after he was granted bail by an Accra Circuit court in September, last year.
The accused, all of whom are with the Tema Regional Police Command, have pleaded not guilty to two counts of engaging in a prohibited business related to narcotic drugs and corruption by a public officer.
They are currently in police custody.
Cross-examined by Mrs Stella Badu, a Senior State Attorney, Sgt. Nyarko claimed that on his arrest, it was the police investigator in the case who initially took his statement adding, “he wrote it for me and I signed out of anger.”
He told the court that he did not know Yabson and the only time he met him was when the police arrested them. But in his statement in September 11, last year, Sgt. Nyarko stated that he confronted Amoah for including Yabson in the operation.
His explanation at the time was that Yabson was of a questionable character and also junior policemen at the Tema Community I police station, residing at Tema New Town barracks did not have respect from the public.
Nyarko also told the court that Amoah invited him to assist in the arrest of some thieves at 5.45 am on April 26 but the Tema New Town Police station diary tendered in evidence by the prosecution indicated that the two left with the informants and Yabson to the Kpone beach at 5.25.
The first accused person said he did not sit in Sheriff’s Land Cruiser (GT 21W) to his house outside which Bundorin who the prosecution says followed them in a taxi waited.
The prosecution also submitted that Nyarko, Amoah, Yabson and the fishermen together with their colleague waited for about 45 minutes in Sheriff’s house to enable the fugitive to get the dollars for the accused but Nyarko said it was not correc
He told the court that the taxi-cab he bought in July 2006, was jointly owned by him and his siblings but the prosecution says records show that Nyarko is the sole owner.
The case was adjourned until June 7, for counsel for Yabson and Bundorin to cross examine Nyarko.
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