November 29, 2007 (Lead story)
Story: Mabel Aku Baneseh
After one year of court proceedings, one of the most sensational cocaine trials in the country ended in Accra yesterday with the sentencing of Kwabena Amaning, alias Tagor, and Alhaji Issah Abass to 15 years imprisonment each with hard labour.
The two were found guilty by the Fast Track High Court on their self-confessed admissions of dealing in narcotic drugs at the residence of Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Kofi Boakye in May last year and they are to serve their sentences from Wednesday, August 2, 2006, the day of their arrest.
They were, however, acquitted and discharged on the charges of supply of narcotic drugs.
The guilty verdict comes exactly 69 weeks after their arrest on various counts of conspiracy, engaging in prohibited business related to narcotic drugs and promoting enterprise related to narcotic drugs.
The trial judge, Mr Justice Jones Dotse, criticised ACP Boakye for actively participating in the meeting as a drug dealer and expressed his displeasure at the failure of the Attorney-General to prosecute him along with the two convicts.
He also criticised the first investigator in the case, Chief Inspector Justice Oppong, and his superiors at the Greater Accra Regional Police Command for searching the residence of the convicts four days after their arrest, instead of doing so immediately.
According to the court, such unprofessional conduct on the part of the police officers gave room to the convicts to remove all traces of incriminating evidence, adding, “Inspector Oppong did nothing to merit the tag of investigator.”
The two convicts were arraigned before the court on November 27, 2006 after the Justice Georgina Wood Committee, which had been tasked to investigate the missing 76 parcels of cocaine which were on board the MV Benjamin vessel, had recommended that they should be put on trial.
Tagor, who was walking with the aid of crutches after he had sprained his leg in a football match while in custody, and Abass were immediately whisked away in a waiting vehicle by security officials, amidst the shedding of tears by their families and friends.
Passing judgement, Mr Justice Dotse, an Appeal Court judge with additional responsibility as a High Court judge, described the convicts as “criminals who lost their heads and spoke profusely with loose tongues”.
He said the two, together with ACP Boakye, Victor Kissei, alias Yaw Billah, Kwabena Acheampong and Alhaji Imoro, made self-confessed admissions in their previous cocaine transactions.
Billah, Acheampong and Imoro had earlier been discharged by the Circuit Court in Accra after the Attorney-General had filed a nolle prosequi to discontinue their trial.
The trial judge expressed his displeasure at the decision of the Attorney-General not to prosecute ACP Boakye, Billah and Imoro, whom he said were all guilty of dealing in narcotic drugs, adding, “Only time will tell.”
He said without malice to ACP Boakye, he (the trial judge) was privy to the transcripts of the recorded conversation and stated that from what transpired at the meeting, it was apparent that all those present dealt in narcotic drugs.
Mr Justice Dotse, however, said Acheampong had already been used as a prosecution witness and for that matter ACP Boakye could not have been a material witness, adding that “it is not too late to prosecute Kofi Boakye”.
The court, however, said it would leave the matter to the entire discretion of the Attorney-General, who had the powers to decide on whom to prosecute.
Turning to the conviction of Tagor and Abass, the judge held that he was “satisfied that the use of transcripts to prosecute has not breached any of our laws”.
The court further held that experts invited to testify in the trial proved that the voice attributes in the tape recording were not disputed, adding that the convicts’ defence that they talked the way they did to bait ACP Boakye was false.
It affirmed that “the meeting was held by business brothers in a cordial atmosphere and on a happy note. There were no missing links, thanks to Chief Inspector Charles Adobe, who conducted himself professionally”.
The court further held that the convicts and the others at the meeting all agreed to act together to pursue the missing 76 parcels of cocaine and share the proceeds accordingly.
It said it was not true that the convicts were baiting ACP Boakye, adding that if that was so, they would not have spoken the way they did.
It further deduced that Mr Adobe was able to prove that terms such as “keys”, “safe”, “goods” and “business” which were all used in the conversation were consistent in the world of drug dealers in the country.
The court continued that during that conversation, Abass said Sheriff Asem Dakeh, alias The Limping Man, was the owner of the 76 parcels of cocaine, while Joseph K.J. Damson was the owner of the vessel, both statements of which later turned out to be correct.
“They made confessions to previous dealings in cocaine. What happened at the meeting cannot be said to be a bait,” the court contended, adding, “I am convinced that their action was not to bait.”
It said the case of the defence collapsed when Colonel Isaac Akuoku (retd), the former Executive Secretary of the Narcotics Control Board (NABOB), denied knowledge of the recording, adding that it would not serve any useful purpose if Mr Ben Ndego, a former official, had testified on behalf of the defence.
Abass had, in his evidence-in-chief, admitted to having recorded the conversation, with the explanation that he had been instructed by Mr Ndego to do so.
He had also informed the court that Col Akuoku was privy to the recording of the conversation, which was aimed at nailing ACP Boakye, who was suspected to be dealing in narcotic drugs.
Touching on Abass’s earlier evidence that he had seized a police vehicle because the police owed him, the court said “Abass was so ‘powerful’ he could seize a police vehicle without a court order”.
Mr Justice Dotse chastised Abass for attempting to smear the reputation of Detective Inspector Adaba during the trial and stated that all evidence led in court proved that Detective Inspector Adaba had, on countless occasions, refused to dance to the tune of the convicts, thereby incurring their displeasure.
He said it was unfortunate that Ghana was now being used as a designated area for the drug trade, adding that the activities of drug traffickers were injuring the reputation of the country.
The trial judge further stated that the activities of drug dealers were causing serious harm in the society and warned drug dealers that it was no longer profitable to deal in narcotic drugs in the country.
Earlier, counsel for the convicts had prayed the court to deal leniently with the convicts because they were first offenders but the prosecution prayed the court to take into account the fact that they were drug barons.
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