Last man convicted in stowaway case

The last defendant in a heroin-smuggling case that led to the discovery of 23 West African stowaways on a container ship in Camden was found guilty on a drug-conspiracy charge in federal court yesterday.

Augustine Ntim, a native of Ghana who was living in the Bronx, N.Y., walked off the container ship Aeolian Sky on Feb. 8, 2003, with 1,038 grams of heroin that a member of the crew had given him.

Investigators who then boarded and searched the Danish-owned ship discovered the 23 men, all younger than 45. Eight were hiding above the ceiling panels. The stowaways were from Ghana and the war-ravaged nation of Ivory Coast.

The ship, docked at the Beckett Street Terminal to unload lumber and cocoa beans, had been under surveillance in a drug investigation.

Ntim admitted in U.S. District Court in Camden that he accepted $2,000 to collect the drugs from the ship's crew member, James Samuel Kittoe. Although Ntim stipulated to the facts of the case, he did not plead guilty because he wanted to preserve his right to appeal. Judge Freda Wolfson found him guilty after a short hearing. Ntim could face 10 years to life when sentenced in May. Kittoe has pleaded guilty to the same charge.

A third man, Kwesi Danku, pleaded guilty to more serious drug charges. Ntim was collecting the heroin, which tests showed was 77 percent pure, for Danku.