10 UST Students Arrested in London

Unconfirmed reports reaching The Accra Mail indicate that 10 students of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology were arrested at Heathrow in London for carrying narcotic drugs into the UK. The students, six girls and two boys, were grabbed about three weeks ago.

A Ghana Airways source The Accra Mail spoke to on how the students could have outwitted security at Kotoka airport said that there is the likelihood that the drugs were swallowed, which could make detection near impossible.

The source added that this period witnesses an 'explosion' of student passengers as the country's universities are on semester holidays and stated that this time around, some students were granted visas to attend some conference or the other in Britain in the middle of last month. "It is likely the students thought that such quasi official trips make people less security conscious and decided to sneak the drugs into Europe."

A student source at the UST told The Accra Mail that he was not surprised at the news because it has become the habit of students in some of the halls of residence to try to outdo one another in flaunting their wealth. The students own flashy cars and lead ostentatious lives on campus, an attitude they conceal from their parents and guardians.

The source went on to say that some of the students stay away in Europe dealing in drugs and pay some of their colleagues to write mid-semester examinations or assignments on their behalf. Asked how that could be possible, he hinted that their lecturers don't know the students by name, "they know them by numbers so when assignments are given to be done and presented, it is only the numbers they deal with. To the extent that some students return from Europe with wealth they couldn't have acquired if they had done any genuine work."

The Narcotics Control Board, when contacted, indicated that they have not been informed of any arrest of students in the UK.

The Accra Mail is awaiting the result of inquiries as to the identities of the students involved in this latest drug bust involving Ghanaians.