Three people appear before court for allegedly recruiting a drug courier

Accra, July 12, GNA - Three people who allegedly recruited a drug courier from Ghana to convey narcotic drugs to Singapore and Malaysia appeared before an Accra Circuit Court on Tuesday. They are; Mohammed Yahaya, aka Aikins Addai 26, a farmer, Richmond Kwame Nimako aka Alhaji 42, unemployed and Josiah Benjamin Udoji 45, Pastor and a businessman. They pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to deal and dealing in prohibite= d business relating to narcotic drugs, possessing narcotic drugs without authority. Yahaya was additionally charged with threat of harm. The accused persons were remanded into prison custody to re-appear on July 26. Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Cletus K. Abadamlora prosecuting told the court presided over by Mr Eric Kyei Baffuor that officials of Narcotic Control Board (NACOB) had information that some Nigerian drug dealers in collaboration with some Ghanaians were recruiting people from Ghana to convey narcotic drugs to Singapore and Malaysia. He said NACOB therefore monitored their activities.

The prosecutor said the first accused Yahaya is a trader and a farmer whilst the second accused Nimako is unemployed and a friend of Yahaya. He said the third accused Udoji is a Pastor from Nigeria and Chief Executive Officer of J.B. Ham-Kendasa Worldwide Investment Limited, a company allegedly located in Nigeria and Malaysia. ASP Abadamlora said on May 11, this year, Yahaya fronting for one Chinedu, aka Oga Malaysia, a Nigerian drug dealer, tasked Nimako to recruit someone to travel with a bag containing five kilogrammes of cocaine to Singapore for a fee.

He said Nimako informed a witness in the case about the deal who feigned interest and alerted a NACOB official. The prosecutor said the following day, Yahaya bought an Accra-Dubai-Singapore air ticket for the witness for the trip. He said on May 14, this year, Yahaya and Nimako led the witness to Kotoka International Airport with the bag containing the cocaine and handed over the air ticket to the witness for the journey. ASP Abadamlora said during departure formalities, Yahaya and Nimako quickly left the airport before the bag and its content were intercepted by NACOB officials.

He said the witness later informed Yahaya and Nimako about the seizure of the bag by NACOB officials and they informed Chinedu. The prosecutor said Yahaya and Chinedu who was hiding in Nigeria, sent series of text messages to the witness that failure to return the bag containing the cocaine, they would kill him and his entire family, and the matter was reported to the Police. ASP Abadamlora said during investigations, witness informed Yahaya and Chinedu that the bag and its content had been retrieved from NACOB official= s and ready for collection. He said on June 12, this year, Chinedu requested the service of Udoji to use his position as a Pastor to travel to Ghana to collect the bag containing the cocaine. The prosecutor said Udoji also sent his full name and passport number through a text message to Chinedu to facilitate purchase of ticket for him to travel to Ghana.

He said when Udoji arrived in Ghana on the evening of June 13, this year, he (Udoji) contacted both Yahaya and the witness on phone to meet and discuss how the bag could be returned to Chinedu. The prosecutor said on June 14, Yahaya and Udoji were asked to wait at "ABC" bus terminal near Caprice to collect the bag containing the cocai= ne and were arrested.

ASP Abadamlora said Udoji was in possession of a Nigerian bound bus ticket for the witness as well as a passport for the witness since he (Udoji) had been instructed by Chinedu to bring the witness together with the bag to Nigeria. He said when Chinedu became aware of the arrest of Yahaya and Udoji he continued to send death threatening text messages to the witness and promised to use Nimako to attack him. The prosecutor said though Yahaya refused to lead the Police to arrest Nimako, the witness on June 15, saw Nimako trailing him and reported to the Nima Police for his arrest. He said efforts were being made to determine the contents of the bag and seek the assistance of Interpol to arrest Chinedu.