COP TESTIFIES UNDER CROSS-EXAMINATION

POLICE Inspector Charles Adabah, the investigator in the case involving the owner of the MV Benjamin and the five crew members who are being tried for their roles in the importation of 77 slabs of cocaine has said the driver of the fugitive cocaine baron, Sheriff Asem Dakeh, jumped bail and is on the run.
He said all efforts to arrest the said driver had proved futile but no attempt had been made to arrest his surety.
The investigator was testifying under cross-examination by counsel for the vessel owner, Mr D.K. Ameley, at the Accra Fast Track High Court.
According to the prosecution, the 77 slabs were imported into the country through the MV Benjamin but before the security agencies got wind of its dock at the Tema Port, all but one parcel containing 25 slabs had been stolen.
Following that, the owner of the vessel, Joseph Kojo Dawson; Pak Bok Sil, a Korean; Isaac Arhin and Philip Bruce Arhin, both Ghanaians, and Cui Xian Li and Luo Yin Xing, both Chinese, who were alleged to have played various roles in the importation of the substance, are being tried.
They have been charged with various counts of using a 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 has been remanded in prison custody.
The witness disagreed with counsel that Dawson voluntarily led security officials to Sheriff’s house to effect his arrest after the vessel had been arrested at the Tema Port.
Mr Ameley suggested to the witness that his client volunteered to lead the security men to Sheriff’s house so that he could be arrested but they prevented him at a point, for which reason Sheriff could not be arrested.
Inspector Adabah said according to the Charter Agreement, the vessel was chartered by Atico Fisheries Limited, a company owned by Sheriff, to tow a distressed vessel from Conakry, Guinea, to Ghana.
He, however, disagreed with counsel that Dawson did not know what Sheriff was going to use the vessel for, adding that Dawson had been totally aware that it was going to be used to cart cocaine.
When Mr James Agalga, counsel for the Korean, put it to the witness that the vessel docked in Takoradi in order to undergo repairs, he agreed, but maintained that the accused person was not contracted to do any repairs but that he was among those who organised the voyage to import the cocaine.
Meanwhile, the case involving three policemen who are being tried for allegedly aiding the fugitive Sheriff to abscond with 2,280 kilogrammes of cocaine was adjourned to enable a defence witness to be called to testify.
The court said that if by the next sitting the witness was not present, the case would go on according to law.
The accused persons are Sgt David Nyarko, General Lance Corporal Dwamena Yabson and General Lance Corporal Peter Bondorin, while a fourth accomplice, Detective Sergeant Samuel Yaw Amoah, is on the run.
The accused persons are alleged to have received an unspecified amount in dollars from the fugitive cocaine owner and allowed him to flee.
They have been charged with two counts of engaging in prohibited business relating to narcotic drugs and corruption by a public officer and have pleaded not guilty to both counts.