By William
Yaw Owusu
Wednesday
March 14, 2018
The Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) has jumped to
the defence of its sniffer dogs at the cargo section of the Kotoka
International Airport (KIA), denying vehemently that the dogs were tired and
did not work on February 26, this year.
This follows an allegation leveled against officials
of NACOB by the firebrand Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central in the
Central Region, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, to the effect that they (dogs) were being
‘controlled’ by elements that have ‘sinister’ motives against the New Patriotic
Party (NPP) government.
The MP had alleged on Oman FM’s ‘Boiling Point’ programme last Thursday that NACOB
officials had said their sniffer dogs were tired when a disagreement ensued
between National Security operatives and a private company, GH-Swissport Ghana
Ltd. - a cargo handling entity headed by a Lebanese - at the airport.
According to the MP, the disagreement was over some
cars that former President John Mahama’s younger brother Ibrahim Mahama sent to
the cargo section to be shipped abroad for servicing on February 26, 2018.
“Can you believe that during the stalemate between
National Security officials and Swissport Limited over Ibrahim’s cars, NACOB
was brought in but they said their dogs were tired?” the MP queried.
NACOB
Statement
Following Mr Kennedy Agyapong’s assertion, NACOB issued
a statement through its Communication Media Relations & Protocol Unit yesterday
saying, “NACOB’s sniffer dogs did work at the Swissport.”
The statement narrated, “On Monday, 26 February and
Wednesday, 28 February, 2018, the Narcotics Control Board was called upon to
assist in a search operation at Swissport at the Kotoka International Airport.
In both instances, NACOB consequently deployed four (4) narcotic detective
dogs; namely IRIS, CORA, VIKA and KEA, with their technical handlers from the
Canine Unit of NACOB to conduct the search operation.”
Canine
Team
It said, “The Canine Team on Monday, 26 February,
arrived at the Swissport at 08:39 hours for the exercise. Two (2) vehicles, a
Nissan GT and a Mercedes Benz AMG, were the objects of interest. The search
team had to wait for some time for the vehicles to be driven from their
location to the scene of the examination.”
The statement said the vehicles were made available
over three hours later.
“NACOB’s Canine Team at 11:42 hours made the two (2)
vehicles available for search. The vehicles, on arrival at the examination
scene, had to cool down for some few minutes before the security agencies took
turns to conduct their examination,” the statement indicated.
It said NACOB was the first to conduct its search,
followed by BNI and the National Security, adding, “Present at the scene for
the examination, apart from the security agencies, was the clearing agent for
the consignment.”
The statement pointed out that “the four (4)
narcotic detective dogs; IRIS, CORA, VIKA and KEA were deployed for the search
one at a time, till all four (4) had taken turns for the exercise. The
detective dogs diligently searched all the two (2) vehicles, but found no
illicit narcotic substance. At the end of the entire search operation, the
search parties were debriefed and dismissed accordingly.”
February
28
It further stated, “For the search operation on
Wednesday, February 28, three (3) vehicles were the objects of interest: a
Brabus AMG 850, a Bentley Mulsanne and a Brabus Mercedes AMG.
“NACOB’s detective dogs, IRIS, CORA, VIKA and KEA
arrived at the Swissport at 11:00 hours for the search operation. The three (3)
vehicles were opened for examination a few minutes upon the arrival of the
Canine Team.
“NACOB was
the first to conduct its search, followed by BNI and National Security. The
clearing agent was again present for the examination.
“The four (4) narcotic detective dogs were again
deployed for the search one at a time, till all four (4) had taken turns for
the exercise. Each dog diligently searched all the three (3) vehicles but found
no illicit narcotic substance. At the end of the entire search operation, the
search parties were debriefed and dismissed accordingly.”
Ibrahim’s
Reaction
Meanwhile, Mr Ibrahim Mahama has reacted to the
allegations by the MP through his aide, Sammy Gyamfi, saying, “Mr Ibrahim
Mahama is a law abiding citizen and a responsible businessman who always
adheres to the laws of Ghana in all his dealings. The practice of shipping
vehicles abroad for servicing is a normal practice which does not violate any
Ghanaian or international law.”
Claiming he was setting the records straight,
Ibrahim’s boy said in a statement, “On 30th October, 2017, one (1) S Class
Mercedes Brabus Benz belonging to Mr. Ibrahim Mahama and two (2) other cars (1
Bentley Mulsanne and 1 S Class Mercedes Benz) belonging to other prominent
persons, were sent by agents of Mr. Ibrahim Mahama through the KIA to Germany
for repairs. These cars were subjected to all the requisite security checks at
both the departure and arrival points at the KIA and the Luxembourg Airport
respectively.”
Germany
Repairs
According to him, “These three (3) cars, after
undergoing repairs in Germany, were brought back into the country by agents of
Mr. Ibrahim Mahama on Tuesday, the 27th of February, 2017, after they had been
subjected to the necessary security checks at the Luxembourg Airport in
Germany.”
Mr Sammy Gyamfi stated, “The cars, upon their
arrival at the Cargo section of the KIA, were thoroughly checked and cleared by
the Customs Division at the KIA on the 27th of February, 2018, and a clearance
document was issued to that effect. In spite of this fact, the three (3) cars
were not released to us on the 27th of February, 2018 because National Security
and NACOB officials at the KIA had insisted on conducting additional security
checks on the cars.”
Proper
Checks
The aide contradicted NACOB by saying that eight
instead of the four sniffer dogs mentioned by the anti-drug agency Ibrahim’s did
the check.
Ibrahim’s boy said “and so on the following day, the
NACOB division at the KIA together with National Security operatives at the KIA
subjected all the 3 cars to another round of rigorous security checks during
which eight (8) sniffer dogs checked each of the three (3) cars. After this
process, the three (3) cars were cleared and released to agents of Mr. Ibrahim
Mahama on Wednesday the 28th of February 2018.
“Also, the claim that four (4) other cars had been
brought to the KIA by Mr. Ibrahim Mahama for shipment abroad at the time the
three (3) cars arrived in Ghana is false. The two cars in question do not
belong to Mr. Ibrahim Mahama and were not being transported abroad by him. In
short, Mr. Ibrahim Mahama had nothing to do with those two (2) cars.”
The
statement further indicated, “The claim that all the three (3) cars that came
had wrong identification documentations, except one that was registered in the
name of Engineers and Planners, is palpably false. On the contrary, all the
three (3) cars had all the proper documentations and were duly cleared by the
Customs Division and all the security agencies at KIA, led by the Coordinator
of Airport security, Colonel Gaisie.”
No comments:
Post a Comment