Some of the substances suspected to be high-value cocaine intercepted at the Kpoglu Border Post in the Ketu South Municipality in the Volta Region last Friday have gone missing.
The weight of what is missing is said to be 100.10 grams, according to the Narcotics Control Commission.
The commission has told Graphic Online that it went missing between Friday and Sunday whilst the seized substances and cash were in the custody of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) at the Aflao Border post before it was transported to the headquarters of the Customs Division in Accra.
What happened?
The suspected narcotics and $200,000 cash, which was in $100 and $50 bills, were busted on Friday, June 5, 2020 during a joint search on a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado vehicle with a Nigerian registration number, LSR 815 FV.
The vehicle was crossing into Ghana from Togo.
It was busted through a collaboration between the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and other security agencies including the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB).
The items were concealed in a false fuel compartment of the Nigerian registered Toyota Land Cruiser Prado.
When the substances were detected missing
According to the Narcotics Control Commission, some of the substances were allegedly detected missing on Sunday, June 7, 2020, when the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) invited all agencies at the border post to verify the exhibits the Narcotics officers left in the custody of Customs on Friday.
The inspection was to be done before the substances were escorted to the headquarters of the GRA in Accra.
The Acting Director-General of the Narcotics Control Commission, Mr Francis Kofi Torkornoo, told Graphic Online’s Mary Mensah that even though, the Narcotics officers had protested that the substances per Narcotics Control Commission Act were to be left in the custody of narcotics officers whilst investigations were still ongoing, the Customs officers ignored them and insisted they will keep them in their custody and transport it to their headquarters in Accra.
“The verification exercise revealed that, parcel (h), a 100.10g of whitish substance wrapped in transparent polythene, suspected to be cocaine, was missing,” Mr Torkonoo told Graphic Online’s Mary Mensah when he recounted the seizure of the suspected narcotics.
He insisted that the commission was the lead agency on narcotic drugs in the country as the Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020, which was assented to by the President on May 11, 2020.
This, he said gives the commission the independence in the performance of its functions over offences related to narcotic drugs, plants cultivated for narcotic purposes and for related matters.
Section 72 of the Act also talks about seizure of currency, and that NACOB has the “backing of the law to ask Customs to transfer the vehicle and all its contents to us for investigations to start in earnest, but since the seizure of the whitish substances suspected to be narcotics at the Kpoglu border on Friday June 5, 2020, we are yet to receive all the exhibits from the scene,” Mr Torkonoo said.
Interception
Graphic Online understands that it was the Narcotics officer on the ground at Kpoglu Border Post who acted on intelligence and vigilance to personally bust the suspect, Agbatch Sylvester, after he insisted that a second false fuel tank be scanned to ascertain its contents.
Related article: Security operatives impound narcotics at Kpoglu Border Post
After the bust the Narcotics officers Graphic Online understands protested the decision by the Customs officers to send the items together with the vehicle to Customs Division instead of sending it to the office of NACOB as required in section 63 (1) (4) and section 72 (1) of the Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019) which requires that, the vehicle and the entire content of the items retrieved from it is transferred to NACOB.
The Narcotics officers reportedly made it clear to all agencies present that, NACOB would not be part of the team escorting the vehicle to the headquarters of Customs in Accra, if the vehicle and its entire content including the items found in the hidden compartment were not being handed over directly to NACOB for investigations to commence immediately.
According to NACOB, Customs failed to handover the exhibits to NACOB for further investigations into the case.
