An Accra High Court has ordered the confiscation to the state the belongings of Nayele Ametefe, the convicted drug courier, serving an eight years, eight months jail sentence in the United Kingdom.
The assets include Night Angels Enterprise on the Dzorwulu Motorway where electrical appliances are sold.
Six different bank accounts of the convict with Fidelity Bank have already been taken over.
[contextly_sidebar id=”0F1N2oHGeQ1EAeezTQyxeE467cCbKvdf”] The Deputy Executive Secretary of the Narcotics Control Board in-charge of Enforcement and Control Richard, Nii Lante Blankson, who disclosed these to the Ghanaian Times in Accra on Friday, said his outfit is taking steps to serve Nayele with the Court ruling.
He said however that some people were claiming ownership of some of the buildings at Pese Kuntunase in the Ashanti Region, East Legon and Dzorwulu.
Mr. Blankson Indicated that lawyers of the people have presented some documents indicating that they owned the buildings, which they said were rented by the convict.
He disclosed that Nayele’s mother, through her lawyer, was also contesting that the house at East Legon belonged to her and not her daughter.
Mr. Blankson said the court ordered Fidelity Bank to release the amounts with the accrued interest to NACOB so that it could enforce the court’s orders as to the utilization of the monies.
Background
The 33 year old Ghanaian/Austrian who pleaded guilty to carrying 12 kilos of cocaine to the United Kingdom was sentenced on her own plea by the Isleworth Crown Court in London in January 2015.
The sentence was discounted because of her early guilty plea. Prosecutors said the cocaine carried by Nayele had a purity of 78% and a street value of 1.872 million Pounds. The prosecutors told the court Nayele had $23,000 and an additional 6,000 Pounds in her handbag when she was arrested.
The money was payment for her courier services. According to the prosecutors, Nayele Ametefe was carting the cocaine to South America.
Her travel itinerary, the court was told indicated that she was leaving the United Kingdom two days after her arrival, for the Dominican Republic.
The 12 kilograms of cocaine was, therefore, not meant to be consumed in the UK.
Nayele still connected to ‘powerful’ Ghanaians
Nayele is said to have been highly connected and came into contact with powerful people in 2004 where her life changed dramatically from her initial simple lifestyle. She traveled extensively with influential people as her companions.
Her lawyer told the court during her hearing that Nayele has remained connected to powerful people in authority who are currently in power in Ghana.
She was forced by circumstances to engage in transporting drugs to support her newly attained high-class lifestyle and to take care of her three children, the lawyer said.
Nayele has refused to disclose the identities of her handlers, claiming concerns over the safety of her children, should she do so.
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Source: Ghanaian Times