East Legon cocaine case :Venezuelans open defence

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday June 26, 2007
The two Venezuelans being tried in connection with the seizure of 588.88 kilogrammes of cocaine from a house in East Legon, Accra in November 2005 yesterday opened thier defence at the Fast Track High Court.

The men , Joel Mella, a machine operator and Halo Cabezza Castillo, 38, businessman have pleaded not guilty to four counts of conspiracy, importation and possessing narcotic drugs without lawful authority.

Another Venezuelan, David Duarte Vasquez, said to be the boyfriend the informant of the case, Grace Asibere Asibi, and believed to be the brain behind the importation of the narcotic substance and who has also been charged together with the two, is still at large.

Led in evidence by Kwabla Dogbe Senanu, Mella who was the first to mount the witness' box said admitted staying in the house where the cocaine was siezed but denied having knowledge about the narcotic drug.

He told the court that he arrived in the country on September 9, 2005 as a diamond dealer and was met at the airport by a Noble Dosoo, a prosecution witness whom the accused calls Shamo.

But the police says they have evidence that whenever the names Shamo or Bude are mentioned the two Venezuelans, they are refering to Vasquez and not Dosoo.

Mella who testified through a Spanish interpretor further said he did not know the owner of the house in which he resided and it was the Shamo/Bude who had brought him there.

He said all the exhibits found in the house and in his room did not belong to him, saying 'it is not true that I asked the police not to mix the cocaine on the floor with a water nearby'.

He said Vasquez is not his brother and added that he was not part of Compimchex Limited, the company that the police suspects was used to front the cocaine business.
'I am not part of Compimchex. I have never worked for them. I do not know anything about this company'.

The court, presided over by Justice E.K. Ayebi, adjourned proceedings to Jly 5, for Ms. Gertrude Aikins, the Acting Director of Public Prosecutions to cross examine Mella.