A former Deputy Director of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), Mr. Ben Ndego, has taken exception to the information being bandied about, most especially by the Managing Editor of the New Crusading Guide, Malik Kweku Baako, that NACOB had a four-day advance intelligence report of an approaching vessel, the MV Benjamin, which had 77 parcels of cocaine on board, yet, failed to speedily act on the information.
He has therefore warned the seasoned journalist to stop putting out such blatant falsehood or risk being exposed.
On April 26, 2006, MV Benjamin anchored in Tema breakwaters with 77 parcels of cocaine. However, 76 parcels were offloaded into two canoes, which landed at the Kpone beach in the Greater Accra Region.
Mr. Baako contends there is empirical evidence indicating that the Navy and AirForce were informed about the presence of the vessel on 25th April, eventhough NACOB was informed of the vessel on the 21st of April, 2006.
It would be recalled that in May 2006, Mr. Ndego was asked to proceed on an indefinite leave after the disappearance of 5 kilos of cocaine from the NACOB office in the wake of the MV Benjamin Cocaine scandal. Mr. Ndego was ordered to proceed on leave alongside his boss, Col (retd) Akuoku by the Kufuor Administration.
A clearly livid Ben Ndego, who called into Joy FM's news analysis programme, Newsfile on Saturday, disclosed that though a committee was set up to investigate the issue of the missing 5kilos of cocaine, he and others implicated did not get the chance to challenge its findings.
“I appeared before that committee and we were told the committee was submitting its report in four days, and we had all along waited to see that committee’s report… but unfortunately, we’ve never seen the report; we’ve never been told how the investigations were conducted, we’ve never been told how the drugs got lost,” he stated.
According to him, despite cooperating with the committee by writing a statement and being granted bail, yet nobody briefed them about anything; and “we have people like Kweku Baako moving from radio station to radio station giving their kind of information. Whether it was coming from the government circles, nobody knew,” he added.
Touching on the MV Benjamin case, the Ex-NACOB Operations Boss was of the view that Mr. Baako was talking from an uninformed position when he (Baako) asserted that for four days, NACOB kept hold of intelligence reports about cocaine on-board the vessel.
“I am very shocked at that thing. I don’t know where Kweku got this, I just don’t know where Kweku got this,” Mr. Ndego said.
But the one-time GJA Journalist of the Year stood his grounds maintaining that the information was credible.
“It’s contained in the findings of the Georgina Wood Committee. Two, Mr. Francis Poku, a former Minister of National Security also in a rejoinder actually confirmed it; a rejoinder to a publication that the Informer had done on him, confirmed it. And this is a fact!” he stated. Maintained reiterated recapped re-echoed
Mr. Baako further went on to explain that “all the officers from the Air Force and the Navy that had appeared before the Georgina Wood Committee indicated that it was April 25TH that they got the information, meanwhile NACOB, got the information on April 21st.”
“This is documented. A copy of the report is here; I’m not the one manufacturing it,” he added.
But Narcotics Control officer countered that the seasoned journalist definitely lacks understanding.
“The April 21th you are referring to, all those things you don’t understand. In the intelligence, nobody carries information to come and give it to you. It was an on-going process that we were doing…The records are at Narcotics Control Board, they can do the computer print and tell you when the information was sent through the mail…Let me tell you, the Navy officer that appeared before the Georgina Wood Committee was in Takoradi; and he was a very low ranking officer,” he upheld.
Mr. Ndego rhetorically asked Mr. Baako if he thinks the “Narcotic Control Board would go and discuss their operations with low ranking officers knowing the military set up?”
Clearly unenthused, the former NACOB Deputy Director, who pointed out that there are so many things he has kept quite over because he does not want to cause any problems, however, cautioned Mr. Baako that “if you continue this lie, i believe the platform would come a day and everybody will know what happened,” he warned.
“That’s an empty threat,” Mr. Baako defied.
“I have more things on Ndego which I can also put public. In fact, I have brought some here; complaints against his conduct of operations at the Kotoka International Airport much much earlier by a CEPS official. I have it here right now…,” he added.
According to him, whatever he’s stated is contained in the recommendations of the Georgina Wood Committee Report. To buttress, his point, Mr. Baako read portions of the recommendations relating to his submission on Ndego.
“…Nonetheless, the Committee finds that although NACOB was alerted on the 21st of April, 2006, it was until 25th April, 2006, by the Navy’s assertion that their assistance was sought. The committee therefore finds that it appears that NACOB delayed in informing the Navy and the Air force that their assistance will be needed. This is not Kweku Baako manufacturing anything. This is a fact of finding made by the Committee after it had interacted with people from the Navy and the Airforce! So I’ve not manufactured anything. If he’s contesting this, he’s not in a contest with me. In any case didn’t he appear before the Committee? Didn’t he give evidence before the Committee?” he asked.
But Mr. Ndego was categorical that though he did appear before the committee, he was “not given any opportunity to contest any findings.”
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