Allotey Jacobs was held and interrogated – Namoale confirms

Member of Parliament for La-Dadekotopon, Nii Amasa Namoale has confirmed that Central Regional Chairman of the ruling NDC, Allotey Jacobs was held up by security officials at the Heathrow Airport briefly, during his trip abroad.

Rumours went viral on social media alleging that Mr Allotey Jacobs was busted for carrying cocaine in Britain. He was expected to have connected to the United States of America later.

Other reports said the NDC bigwig who was in abroad for a business transaction was escorted from the plane and questioned when his flight arrived Sunday morning over a tip-off that he was carrying too much money.

But Allotey vehemently denied the reports, insisting he did not have issues with UK officials on his trip.

A member of New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Communications team, Hopeson Adorye who first published the alleged incident on his Facebook page insisted the NDC bigwig was momentarily arrested and questioned over a case of money laundering Sunday while boarding a flight to the UK.

Adorye claimed an account of his friend who was on board the same British airline flight 078 suggested that at Heathrow Airport, UK Security officials approached Jacobs on the flight – questioned him over money laundering issues and for a few minutes walked him out of the craft.

But Hon. Namoale who met Allotey Jacobs in the USA during his visit has told Kwaku Owusu Adjei on Si Me So on Kasapa 102.5 FM Tuesday that though Allotey Jacobs was called in for questioning that action didn’t amount to an arrest.

“In abroad there are thousands of people disembarking at the airports, a single plan carries about five hundred passengers at a time and every five minutes an airplane lands, if these whites want to search passengers individually, then it will take them a whole day to search people from one airplane. So they handpick and search some of the passengers and that is not based on prior information but it’s done at random.

“So Allotey upon reaching Heathrow and was questioned by the security personnel on duty, a member of the NPP who was present realizing that he’s been left to go through the checkpoint while Allotey was held up, he waited at the arrival section and watched as all the passengers on the BA flight from Ghana walked off. After three hours of not seeing any sign of Allotey, he concluded that he had been arrested, but it wasn’t an arrest he was asked harmless questions and was allowed to go later. He went off to America. The NPP man thought Allotey was coming to the UK and so hours after not seeing him there, he concluded that he’d been arrested not knowing that he’d gone to the USA.”