An Accra Circuit Court has remanded Kyei Baffour George, a Public Servant and Fiifi Folson, a Freight Forwarder in prison custody, for conspiracy to export narcotic drug and exportation of narcotic drug.
The accused persons pleaded not guilty and would reappear on November 18.
[contextly_sidebar id=”TFZDa4Dr59HPExxoRCeEB3TXbzWrbwOP”]Mr. Fred Kusim Awindaogo, Assistant State Attorney told the court that between January and February this year, intelligence report was received from United Kingdom officials on the seizure of three tons of cannabis in a 40-footer container at Gateway Port.
He said the container sailed from Meridian Port Services in Tema on MOL SEA BREEZE vessel on January 13, 2015 and arrived in London on February 5.
The prosecution said the container contained 950 packages of fresh yams and gari with Village Freight as the forwarder, and Eric Tetteh as the contact person.
He said Eric mentioned Fiifi as an import clearing agent, adding that he had dealt with Fiifi on a number of occasions, starting from 2014.
Mr. Awindaogo said according to Eric, he received all the instruction and addresses for shipment from Fiifi.
He said with respect to the seizure of the items at Antwerp, it was initially bound for Hamburg-Germany, but Fiifi asked him to change the address from Hamburg to Antwerp for a fee.
“This is an attempt to conceal the real identities of persons and movement of the consignment by tampering with the address,” he added.
The prosecution said during investigations, Fiifi mentioned one Kofi Appianin Ennin as the person, who contracted him.
Mr. Awindaogo said surveillance was laid at the warehouse of Kofi, where the goods emanated from.
He said Kofi was eventually lured to the warehouse at Ashieyie by NACOB officials, under the guise of renting the warehouse. He was accompanied by Kyei, his counterpart.
Mr. Awindaogo said a search conducted at the warehouse, revealed a number of card boxes labelled fresh yam and gari, jute sacks and plain polythene materials.
He said the card boxes and its labeling were the same as the boxes that were used in the packaging of the yams.
He said Kofi and Kyei admitted to the packaging of the yams in their warehouse but they failed to provide information about their business partners.
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Source: GNA