Police in coke trial

THE fugitive policeman who is standing trial with three other policemen at the Accra Fast Track High Court for allegedly aiding a suspect to abscond with 2,280 kilogrammes of cocaine admitted in his statement that they received an unspecified amount in dollars from the fugitive cocaine owner, Sheriff Asem Dakeh.
Sergeant Samuel Yaw Amoah was said to have indicated in the statement that his share was $3,000.
A prosecution witness, Detective Inspector Justice Oppong, told the Fast Track High Court yesterday during cross-examination by Mr Ahmed Musah, counsel for two of the accused persons.
He was testifying in the case in which General Lance Corporal Dwamena Yabson, General Sergeant Daniel Nyarko, General Lance Corporal Peter Bondori and Detective Sergeant Amoah, who is on the run, are accused of collecting money from the owner of the cocaine, Dakeh, and allowing him (Dakeh) to abscond with the narcotic drug.
The three have been charged with two counts of engaging in prohibited business relating to narcotic drugs and corruption by a public officer.
They have pleaded not guilty to both counts.
Inspector Oppong said although the accused persons had denied accepting money from Dakeh, it was clear that they met him at the Kpone Beach and from there they even went to his Community One residence in Tema.
He, however, did not tender Sgt Amoah’s statement because he was at large.
The witness said on April 26, 2006, Corporal Bondori crossed Sgt Nyarko, Corporal Yabson and Sgt Amoah with a taxi when he saw them and the van carting the suspected cocaine.
He said on meeting Dakeh, he (Dakeh) told the accused persons, “If it is because of cocaine that you are here, it is gone.”
Inspector Oppong denied that Sgt Nyarko’s statement was taken under duress in order to drop a more serious offence against him and that he voluntarily wrote his statement after his arrest.
He further denied subjecting Sgt Nyarko to an identification parade, during which his name was mentioned, to enable some fishermen to identify him.
He agreed with counsel that nobody arrested Dakeh but his vehicle number was mentioned by Sgt Nyarko in his statement and that enabled the police to retrieve it from Kpone Katamanso where its tires had been removed and the vehicle jerked and covered to outwit the police.
In a related development, a shipping superintendent and registrar of ships yesterday told the Accra Fast Track High Court hearing the case involving the missing cocaine on board the MV Benjamin that the vessel was registered with the Ghana Maritime Authority on April 20, 2000.
He, however, said that its crew at the time of arrest by the security agencies was not registered.
Mr Eugene Ofei-Boohen was testifying in the case concerning some missing cocaine on board the MV Benjamin in which the vessel owner, Joseph Kojo Dawson, Pak Bok Sil, a Korean, Isaac Arhin and Philip Bruce Arhin, both Ghanaians, Cui Xian Li and Luo Yin Xing, both Chinese, are alleged to have played various roles leading to the importation of 77 parcels of cocaine, each weighing 30 kilogrammes, into the country.
They have been charged with various counts of using property for narcotic offences, engaging in prohibited business relating to narcotics and possession of narcotic drugs without lawful authority.
Each of them has pleaded not guilty to all the charges and have been remanded into prison custody.
Led in evidence by Mr William Kpobi, a Principal State Attorney, the witness said he knew the ship owner because he was one of the directors of Dashment Shipping Company Limited, the owners of MV Benjamin.
According to him, he registered the vessel and the first time it was put on the Ghanaian register was April 20, 2000 because it was of Korean origin, with the name MV Duk Won 63.
He said vessels could be chartered, saying chartered vessels were registered if they were from different countries coming to the Ghanaian register.
During cross-examination by Mr D.K Ameley, counsel for Dawson, the witness said when a vessel was registered in Ghana it had to be deregistered from the original country of destination, adding that the MV Benjamin satisfied all the requirements for it to be registered in Ghana.
He said it was also the responsibility of whoever chartered the vessel or the company which engaged it to register the crew, as well as those who would manage it, among other things.