Bail of suspected drug barons cancelled by new judge

Six men arrested after Ghana’s biggest ever drugs bust, were put back in prison to await trial on Wednesday after a public outcry over their release on bail. The judge who originally granted the five foreigners and a Ghanaian bail of $33,000 after they were caught in possession of 675 kg of cocaine worth an estimated US$145 million, was hastily transferred to a new post in the remote north of Ghana. On Wednesday, Appeal Court Judge Stephen Farkye overruled the bail order issued by the original trial judge, Justice Aggrey, who has been taken off the case and posted to the Upper East Region near the border with Burkina Faso. “The tribunal should have taken into account the gravity of the offence and the possibility of the suspects jumping bail. In granting bail, the tribunal erred in exercising its discretionary powers,” he said. “Three of the suspects are also international businessmen who often travel outside Ghana. The suspects also lay claim to two or more different nationalities,” he noted. The six suspected traffickers were arrested in January after Ghanaian narcotics officials, working in partnership with British customs officers, seized the cocaine in a house belonging to the director of a tuna fishing company in the port of Tema. Ghanaian officials believe the drugs were flown from South America by plane and dropped into Ghana’s offshore waters, where they were retrieved by the tuna boats and taken ashore for onward shipment to Europe. If convicted, the accused could face a minimum of 10 years behind bars and have all their property confiscated by the state. All have been charged with conspiring and possessing a large cache of narcotic drugs without authority. One, Kevin Gorman, a US citizen, is also being prosecuted for stashing the drugs in his house. The other accused are three Britons, a German and a Ghanaian. West Africa, in recent years, has emerged as a major transit centre for both hard and soft drugs. The illegal trade is made easier by the region’s porous borders that allow traffickers to move about freely. On Monday, a Togolese border patrol seized 41.2 kg of cocaine at the Aflao border check-point with Ghana with an estimated street value of US $2.2 million. The drugs was discovered in a secret compartment in the boot of a car with Togolese licence plates, travelling from Ghana. Police said several people were arrested, but did not reveal their identity. According to the head of Togo’s narcotics division, Abalo Assih, Monday’s seizure is the first major haul this year. He told IRIN, “It is important that the police, para-military gendarmerie and customs officers work in greater harmony to enable the authorities get the best results.” Last month, a Nigeria national was arrested at Lome international airport with 96 capsules containing about one kg of pure cocaine in his stomach as he was preparing to board a flight to France with an onward connection to the United States. The International Narcotics Control Board, (INCB) the UN’s drugs watchdog, says that farmers across Africa are switching from traditional crops to producing illegal drugs, in particular marijuana. In its annual report released on the 3 March, the INCB stated this was a particular concern in the southern and eastern parts of the continent. However it also claimed that drugs money had been used to fund wars in West Africa, including in Cote d’Ivoire and Liberia.