The Ghanaian woman who was arrested in the UK with cocaine thought she was rather carrying gold in her hand luggage, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Hannah Tetteh has revealed.
The Minister said this in an interview on an Accra-based Radio Gold on Tuesday and stated that Nayele Ametefe said this to the Ghana Mission which visited her in prison.
Nayele was arrested by security operatives at the Heathrow Airport in London on November, 10, 2014 when she tried to enter the country with about 12kg of cocaine.
[contextly_sidebar id=”A3Cm924DQxZzlDW28rCGc2100w9jQIE5″]Officials of the Ghana High Commission in the UK visited her in prison.
According to Hannah Tetteh, Nayele told the officials that “she went through the VIP lounge. She didn’t carry anything unto the plane, [but] when she got unto the plane somebody who was a grand staff brought a bag to her, she doesn’t know who the person was but the person knew her name and the seat in which she was sitting.”
Hannah Tetteh added that “she collected the bag and it was heavy, it wasn’t possible for her to put it in the overhead luggage compartment so she opened her bag, she took out two packages and put them in her handbag and then she put them in her luggage compartment. She said that as far as she was concerned she didn’t know that what she was holding was cocaine but she thought it was gold.”
Hannah Tetteh further disclosed that Nayele was aided by a Ghanaian businessman.
The man, is alleged to have called an assistant Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Abiel Ashitey Armah, who has since been arrested, and requested that Ms Ametefeh received preferential treatment at the VIP lounge of the Kotoka International Airport.
“When they tried to ask who was the person who sent the guy to bring her the bag on board and all of that she said she wasn’t prepared to say anything else,” said Hannah Tetteh
Meanwhile, Nayele, who is currently in prison custody in the UK is expected to return to court on November 27.
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By: Godwin Allotey Akweiteh/citifmonline.com/Ghana