PROSECUTION TENDERS GUN ET AL IN CKE TRIAL

THE prosecution in the case involving the owner of the MV Benjamin and five crew members in connection with the missing cocaine on board the vessel today tendered in evidence a single barrel shot gun with 55 AAA cartridges, 90 rounds of 9MM ammunition seized from the residence of the fugitive cocaine baron, Sheriff Asem Dakeh.
Also tendered in court were a red life jacket, a car number plate with registration number GE 12 19 W and Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) number plate and the vessel whose picture was accepted because it could not be moved.
The items, which were seized in the Tema Community Five house of Sheriff were tendered when police Inspector Charles Adabah continued his evidence-in-chief in the case in which 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, are alleged to have played various roles in the importation of the substance.
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 have been remanded in prison custody.
Inspector Adabah said Sheriff was one of the people behind the importation of the 77 parcels of cocaine into the country using MV Benjamin.
He said investigations revealed that Sheriff on December 21, 2005 took a loan of ¢250 million from the Unique Trust Financial Services Limited to purchase marine fuel, which was used for the vessel to embark on its voyage.
A photocopy of the loan agreement was tendered and it was signed by Sheriff as the General Manager of Atici Fisheries and according to the witness, the signature was similar to the one found on the charter agreement, which Sheriff signed with Dashment Shipping Limited, owners of the vessel using his brother’s name as Managing Director of the company.
The witness said when the vessel docked at the Tema breakwaters on April 26, 2006, its Chief Engineer and Captain as well as Kwak Yeo Sing, alias Killer, a Korean, after offloading the cocaine left the vessel and efforts to trace them had proved futile.
However, he said, the Daewoo vehicle with registration number GW 2932 V was found in the residence of Killer’s brother and was impounded.
Similarly, Inspector Adabah said when Bok Sil was arrested, his Ashaiman house was searched and $2850, ¢3,473,000 were retrieved and he believed the money was part of the money Bok Sil said was given to him to pay the crew in preparation of the voyage.
He said Bok Sil’s Korean passport and those of the crew members were retrieved and were tendered in court as well as their charge statements.