Sima Credit Card Stolen

AN ACCRA Fast Track High Court Judge, Justice Charles Quist, has ordered the police to investigate the alleged use of Sima Ibrahim's MasterCard while he is in custody.

Sima Ibrahim is a model and Chief Executive Officer of Exopa Modelling Agency.

Sima, accused of trying to export cocaine to Germany in two tubers of yam, yesterday alleged that his ex-wife in Germany had informed him that she went to the bank and realized that someone was using his MasterCard in Ghana to withdraw his money.

The accused person, who could not name the person using his card, explained that after his arrest, some officers of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA), led by Anthony Smith, one of the prosecution witnesses, took his MasterCard, VisaCard and his wallet, among other things.

The principal state attorney in the case, George Kwadwo Ofori, told the court that he was not aware of any such credit card taken from the accused person and gave the court the list of items taken from Sima at the time of his arrest.

The trial judge therefore ordered the investigator in the case to tell his superiors to look into the allegations and report to court on the next adjourned date.

Under cross-examination by Mr. Ofori, the accused person said he was born in Togo, admitting that his parents are Togolese nationals even though one of his grandparents comes from the Northern Region of Ghana.

Sima denied ever applying for a Ghanaian passport, even when Mr. Ofori presented documents suggesting that Sima had said he was born at Tema General Hospital in an attempt to acquire a Ghanaian passport.

The Exopa boss denied giving out his particulars to acquire a passport and explained that anybody could have used information about him on the net to create that impression, adding that he only owned a German passport.

He also admitted that he was not beaten and neither was any loaded gun pointed at him during his arrest, but stated that he lied about a certain Salifu just to save himself because he feared the police might apply force, since he had experienced the brutality of a security force when he was 17 years.

The accused person admitted the security officers at KIA were not privy to his travel plans but said the way the lock of his luggage was tampered with showed he was set up.

In reaction to a suggestion by Mr. Ofori that no one could put 4.9 kg of cocaine into his bag between the time he checked in and the time he arrived to board the flight, Sima said his bag was abandoned while the others had been checked in and said the people who arrested him were the officers who he had problems with in February 2009.

He particularly singled out a certain officer, Mr. Shadrack, who he said might have an idea about exactly what happened to his bag. He also denied opening the bag in the presence of the security officers but said the lock of his luggage had been tampered with when he saw it.

When asked why he did not write about the fact that his lock was tampered with in his caution statement to the police, he said he knew he would have his time in court.

Mr. Ofori told Sima that his bag was abandoned at KIA when it was realized that he had not gone through security checks.

Sima said he was at a loss as to why the prosecution should allege that he was arrested while going through boarding formalities and asked why he was not arrested when he arrived to check in if the security indeed knew he was carrying drugs.

The case has been adjourned to August 12, 2010. At the last hearing, Sima said he made up a story about the alleged cocaine to prevent the security officers at the airport from using force to extract information from him.

He said after his arrest, when his bag was searched and when the security officers at the KIA alleged that they had found some cocaine substance, they “threatened to use force” if he refused to speak.