FLASHBACK: All about the Ghanaian 'cocaine goddess' Nayele Ametefe

In November 2014, Nayele Ametefe was busted and arrested at the Heathrow International Airport with 12.5kg of cocaine valued to be worth several million pounds.

Nayele,as she was known, was able to go unnoticed with her luggage when she went through the checks at the VVIP Lounge at the Kotoka International Airport where she boarded a flight headed for the Dominican Republic.

She was only caught when she stopped over in London for a medical check-up, reports have noted.

In addition to the cocaine, she was also found with a sum of $23,000 and 6000 pounds which were reportedly meant to pay for the job done.

It was reported that only one out of her two suitcases were checked at the Airport.

The other suitcase which was later found with the cocaine wrapped in one-kilo blocks did not go through routine customs checks at the Accra airport.

She was however said to be traveling on an Austrian passport, not a Ghanaian diplomatic passport even though she had in her possession an ordinary Ghanaian passport issued on August 3, 2012.

During her trial, she disclosed she had protection from people in authority since 2004

Why Nayele became a drug smuggler

According to the account, she was introduced to the drug smuggling business by a businesswoman in Ghana after she was struggling to keep up with the lifestyle she enjoyed while married to her ex-husband, a wealthy spare dealer.

She had three children with her ex-husband.

Nayele’s real name and nationality

As known by many, Nayele Ametefe’s name suggested that she may have hailed from the Volta Region or have any affiliation with the Volta Region. Interestingly, she had no direct ties with the Volta Region. She is said to actually be a Ghanaian-born Austrian.

She is an Akan named Ruby Appiah at birth but had a name change to Ruby Adu Gyamfi after having an encounter with the law in Amsterdam in the Netherlands where her father resides.

It was alleged that she underwent plastic surgery in order to disguise herself after she had earlier been involved in a scandal.

Meanwhile, she had several other names that different people call her including Ruby Mahama, Angel, and Naana among others.

Nayele’s life before her arrest

Nayele was the owner of a state-of-the-art electrical store, Night Angels, located off the Achimota-Tetteh Quashie section of the George Walker Bush N1 Highway.

Many were suspicious of the source of wealth she displayed even though her electrical shop was a booming business.

During her trial, she admitted to having been protected by influential people since 2014 but refused to name the said people for fear of her children being harmed.

Nayely was sentenced to 8 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to the offense but was released after 3 years on parole for good behaviour.

After her arrest, there was a court ruling to confiscate her properties including her 1.6-million-dollar mansion under the suggestion that she may have acquired the properties through drug trafficking.

This came after a month after the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) donated several expensive items (furniture, some with a price tag of GH¢3,200) from her shop.

Some of the confiscated items included the Night Angels Enterprise which was in her name, and six Fidelity Bank accounts, including one containing GH¢3.22p.

Nayele immediately after her release from prison renounced her Ghanaian citizenship. There has however been little or no information about her life since then.

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