Revealed: Nayele Ametefeh was arrested on 7th trip

Investigations have revealed that the Ghanaian lady arrested at Heathrow Airport in Lon­don for carrying 12.5kg of cocaine, travelled to Europe, particularly the United Kingdom, frequent­ly, the last one being her seventh this year.

Nayele Ametefeh aka Angel aka Ruby Adu- Gyamfi aka Irene Tawiah aka Ruby Appiah was trav­elling to London when she ran out of luck and was arrested for possessing the illegal drug.

She is currently being held in Bronzefield prison in the UK after pleading guilty on the first day of court pro­ceedings and is due for sen­tencing on January 5, 2015 at the Isleworth Crown Court.

The ruling National Democrat­ic Congress (NDC), in the initial stages of her arrest, vehemently denied that Ruby used the highly restricted VVIP sec­tion of the Kotoka Interna­tional Airport, Accra, to board the BA078 flight to London; but later conceded that she had used the facili­ty reserved only for the President and his top offi­cials.

The confirmation was contained in the charge sheets used to detain other people including the over­seer of the VVIP section; and these personalities are being kept for aiding and abetting Ruby to ship Class A cocaine with a street value of $5 million.

Ruby always enjoyed protocol service in her trav­els and as a result, she became emboldened that she could move about the restricted section of the Air­port without checks, according to a source.

Other sources also indicated that she was driven onto the tarmac to board the flight and same treatment awaited her at Heathrow.

The government later claimed the vehicle was supposed to pick up senior military officers but failed to show any itinerary for the soldiers.

In a particular month, a source said, she travelled twice and hardly spent more than a week in Europe.

But for her stupidity in removing and rearranging the cocaine on board the flight, she would have got away with it, the source noted.

The British security agents reportedly seized Ruby's three phones and sources said when she was arrested, she made frantic phone calls to a leading NDC government appointee in Accra for an intervention.

Within hours of her arrest on November 10, American Drug Enforce­ment Agents also reported­ly flew to London to inter­rogate her and were said to be decrypting the phones seized to unravel the con­tents.

Sources said the UK and US law enforcers are also busily sharing notes and as a result, some Ghanaian officials who fear they may be implicated have suddenly developed cold feet in travelling out­side the country.

So far, 12 people have been arrested in connection with the cocaine scandal including Alhaji Dawood Mohammed, who played crucial campaign roles for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) during the 2012 general elections.

The suspects arrested include Abiel Ashietey Armah, a Foreign Service Officer in charge of the WIP lounge; Ahmed Abubakar, Protocol Officer and Kissi Theophilus, a Civil Servant.

The rest include Sadala Nuhu and Nana Akua Amponsah, both business­women who were said to have travelled with Ruby, but quickly fled back to Ghana when the baroness was arrested at Heathrow.

The key player as described by the govern­ment is Alhaji Dawood, originator of 'Zongo For Mahama' group, which canvassed votes for the President in 2012.

He is accused of allegedly making telephone calls to the boss of the VVIP section of KIA to facilitate the processing and entry of Ruby and her girls into the BA flight through the VVIP.

His counsel, Kwabena Addo Attuah, confirmed last week that Alhaji Dawood indeed aided Ruby's easy passage through the VVIP Lounge at the KIA, but said no mal­ice was intended on the part of his client.

Counsel maintained, "Yes he (Dawood) knows Nayele and according to my instructions, he only knew Nayele for about two to three weeks, and not more. Well, they met in a shop according to my instructions.

"She is a pretty lady, so he approached her and they interacted and they started exchanging addresses, and then they became friends, I should say acquainted...one wouldn't say that she has any inter­est in it (him), I cannot con­firm. But I am only saying that they became acquaint­ed. I cannot confirm whether they had any amorous relationship," his counsel said.

Firebrand NPP MP for Assin Central, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong last week stated categorically that Ruby's decision not to say anything about the cocaine shipment was because she had been offered $3 million by the NDC government not to speak.

It will be recalled that Foreign Minister Hannah Tetteh recently told the nation that the cocaine baroness had said she would not speak and was willing to 'do' time in jail.

A week after her arrest, Ghana's High Commission­er to UK, Emmanuel Victor Smith, said he was dis­patching embassy staff to interrogate Ruby in prison and many questioned the wisdom in visiting a person who the government claimed was holding an Austrian passport in the first place.