SIXTY KILOGRAMMES OF COCAINE BURNT

SIXTY kilogrammes of cocaine which were concealed in 60 cans and labelled as GhanaFresh Palmnut Cream concentrate were today burnt on the orders of an Accra Fast Track High Court presided over by Mr Justice K. A. Acquaye.
The destruction was done in the full glare of representatives from the media, the Attorney-General’s Office, the Chief Registrar of the Judicial Service, the Ghana Standards Board and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The substance, with a street value of $4 million, was meant for export to the United Kingdom but was intercepted in October, last year by security operatives at the Kotoka International Airport.
Two suspects, Emmanuel Kwaku Darkey, the exporter, and Kirk Patrick Akoto Bekoe, a freight forwarder, were arrested in connection with the substance but Bekoe was later released and used as a prosecution witness in the trial of Darkey.
Darkey is facing one count of attempted exportation of narcotic drugs but he has pleaded not guilty to the charge and is on remand.
The court’s order for the destruction of the substance was after a police investigator, Detective Sergeant Joseph Acquaye, had tendered it in evidence during his evidence-in-chief.
Sgt Acquaye said he was (and still is) an investigator at the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) Headquarters and on October 13, last year, he was at home when his superior officer asked him to report to the office.
On reaching the office, he said, the accused person and the exhibits were handed over to him for investigations by his superior and that at a certain stage he forwarded the exhibits to the Ghana Standards Board for forensic examination.
According to the facts of the case, the accused and Bekoe were arrested at the Aviance Cargo Village at the Kotoka International Airport where each of the cans contained a kilogramme of pure cocaine when it was weighed and tested in the presence of the suspects.
Without tampering with the lids of the cans, the perpetrators had filled the cans with the cocaine in white polythene and resealed them.
Darkey, who is based in London, claimed he came to Ghana to purchase vegetables for export to London and that the consignment was given to him by another exporter, Michael Osei, to add to his.
When asked whether he knew the contents before accepting them, he was said to have answered in the negative and as to why he accepted the goods, particularly when there were security alerts for travellers and exporters not to accept any parcels or goods from anyone without knowing their contents, Darkey admitted he acted stupidly.
Mr William Kpobi is the prosecutor while the accused person is being represented by Mr Atta Akyea.
Further hearing has been adjourned to February 22, 2008.