The East Legon Cocaine Case

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday, 13 July 2007
THE Prosecution in the case of two Venezuelans on trial for the seizure of 588.88 kilogrammes of cocaine from a house in East Legon, Accra, on Wednesday completed the cross-examining of Joel Mella, 40, one of the accused.

Mella and Halo Cabezza Castillo, 40, are standing trial, charged with four counts of conspiracy, importation and pocessing narcotic drugs without lawful authority.

They have pleaded not guilt y and are on remand.

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

Completing his cross-examination Mella told the court that it was Noble Dosoo, husband of Vasquez’s secretary, who invited him to Ghana to do diamond business but the prosecution says it was Vasquez who brought the accused and Dosoo had picked him up at the airport on the instruction of the fugitive.

He denied that Vasquez seized his passport so he would not escape with the cocaine found in the East Legon house.

Mella further told the court that he had not heard about "blood diamonds" and did not know about the Precious Minerals Market Company (PMMC) which controls diamond sale in the country.

Next to mount the witness’ box was the other 3 Venezuelan, Halo Cabezza Castillo, 40, a trader, who told the court that he came to Ghana as a tourist in November 2005.

When Castillo took his turn, he claimed that when he arrived he was put in a hotel at Achimota but the police says he had just been offered a room at the floor of the East Legon house where the cocaine was seized.

Led in evidence by his counsel, Kwabla Dogbe Senanu, Castillo told the court that he was walking in a street in East Legon on November 24, 2005 with a lady when he was arrested by the police.

"On the street I saw a lot of policemen and police cars. It was in this process that a policeman called Commey stopped me and arrested me," but the prosecution says it has led evidence to establish that Castillo entered the house where the cocaine was before he was picked.

"When they arrested me, they took the phone that my friend called Marco gave me and also collected a complimentary card with numbers," but police again say the phone was given to the accused by Vasquez.

Although Castillo claimed that he lived in a hotel in Achimota, the prosecution says he could not lead the police to the hotel where he was.

The prosecution further submitted that he had failed to tell the police where his passport was but Castillo told the court "I have my passport and will produce it at the next adjourned date."

The court, presided over by Justice E.K. Ayebi then adjourned proceedings until today for Castillo to be cross-examined by Ms Gertrude Aikins, acting Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).