The Ghana Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) have made the largest seizure of cocaine in recent years at the Tema Harbour.
The shipment, estimated to weigh 200 kilogrammes with a street value of $12 million, was concealed in a 40-footer container filled with shampoo imported from Bolivia, South America.
The owner of the drugs, 53-year-old Nigerian businessman Chief Sunny Ekechukwu Benji Eke, has been arrested along with an accomplice, 47-year-old James Elekechukwu, a second-hand clothing dealer in Accra.
International law enforcement agencies describe Chief Eke as a notorious drug baron who has been involved in several drug seizures in Brazil and Bolivia.
According to NACOB Deputy Executive Secretary Nii Lante Blankson, the seizure’s success resulted from cooperation among the security agencies in the country.
He said that last December, NACOB received intelligence through its foreign counterparts that a container carrying cosmetics from Bolivia to Tema Harbour was suspected to hold narcotic substances.
On January 29, 2013, he reported, the cargo arrived at Tema Harbour where NACOB officers were on hand to examine it.
Shipped in a container bearing the number MRK 257478-45 GI, it belonged to the MAESRK Shipping Lines and was consigned to the De Consumables Lines Limited.
After almost two weeks, a clearing agent arrived with the necessary documents to clear the goods and was arrested to assist in investigations.
Nii Blankson said the documents revealed that the container was built to contain 22 pallets of assorted cosmetics. While inspecting it, investigators found 1,946 cartons, 33 of which contained a total of 198 yellow bottles of cocaine, while 29 contained 174 green bottles of cocaine.
The container was later traced to Elekechukwu, who was arrested at his residence at Aplaku Junction near Weija.
Upon interrogation, Elekechukwu, who has been living in Ghana for the past twenty years, told NACOB officials that Chief Eke was the real owner of the goods.
Elekechukwu said Chief Eke was his classmate and friend and that he had been visiting Ghana frequently over the past two years to conduct business.
Elekechukwu also reported that anytime Chief Eke arrived in Ghana, he picked the chief up from Kotoka International Airport and checked him into hotels.
In 2011, he explained, Chief Eke informed him about his desire to register a company in Ghana to sell cosmetic products, noting that he assisted the chief to register the De Consumables Company at the Registrar-General’s Department using fake documents.
Elekechukwu said that some time in December 2012, Chief Eke returned to Ghana with the usual import documents for his shipment of cosmetic products, which he claimed was on the high seas and would arrive at the Tema Port some time in January 2013.
The two Nigerians then went to the Tema Harbour, handed over the documents to the clearing agent, and advanced some money for the clearance of the goods. Thereafter, Chief Eke returned to Nigeria.
Mr Blankson said it took the NACOB over a week of careful operations to lure Chief Eke back into the country for his arrest at the Accra Shopping Mall, where he had scheduled a meeting with Elekechukwu and the clearing agent.
He had in his possession four Nigerian passports, all bearing different names.
Myjoyonline
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