Nigerian drug baron jailed

Accra, Sept. 29, GNA - A Nigerian businessman who swallowed 74 pellets of cocaine and was about to board a KLM flight at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) was on Friday jailed 11 years by the Greater Accra Regional Tribunal.

Ernest Anene Ogbodo, who changed his plea of not guilty to guilty, was convicted on his own plea.

He was charged on two counts of exportation of 74 pellets of cocaine, a narcotic drug without licence issued by the Ministry of Health and possessing 74 pellets of cocaine, a narcotic drug, without lawful authority.

The Court ordered that the exhibits (cocaine) be destroyed, and Ogbodo be deported to his home country after serving his jail term. Prosecuting, the Principal State Attorney, Mr Alex Annor said Ogbodo was arrested in November 2005 at the KIA when he arrived to undergo boarding formalities to board a flight to Amsterdam, Holland. Mr Annor said at the last check point Ogbodo was suspected of carrying narcotic drug in his stomach due to his strange movements and demeanour.

He was subsequently sent to 37th Military Hospital for X-ray and the results proved positive that he had some foreign materials in his stomach.

He said Ogbodo then confessed having swallowed seventy-four (74) pellets of cocaine.

Ogbodo was put under observation for 72 hours and he expelled all of the 74 pellets and admitted ownership and stated that he bought it from one Kwame at the cost of 16,300 dollars at a village, but failed to identify the said village to the Narcotic Control Officers and the Police as well as the said Kwame. The exhibit was sent to the Ghana Standard Board for analysis and the content tested positive for cocaine a narcotic drug with net weight of 932.56005g.