Cocaine in bellies, underwear • 2 Women grabbed at KIA

Tuesday, June 8, 2010 (Page 3 Lead)

TWO female Dutch nationals have been arrested by officials of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) for allegedly swallowing a total of 157 pellets of cocaine.
The two, Ernestina Adasa, 50, and Millicent Atieku, 48, who are acquaintances, were arrested at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) around 8 p.m. last Saturday.
The two, who are of Ghanaian origin, hid a total of 78 pellets of cocaine in their underwear.
Ernestina, who swallowed 65 pellets, has so far expelled 62, while Millicent has expelled 89 out of the 92 pellets she swallowed.
A field test of the pellets retrieved from them tested positive for cocaine.
Ernestina was said to have told interrogators that she bought the drugs on credit for $22,000 and that she was expected to pay back the owner after selling it, while Millicent bought hers for $25,000.
In an interaction with executives of Journalists Against Drugs and AIDS (JADA), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), in Accra yesterday, the Deputy Executive Secretary of NACOB, Mr Mark Ewuntomah, said the two were arrested while they were going through departure formalities at the KIA en route to The Netherlands on June 5, 2010.
He said that was the first time in the history of NACOB that women had been found to have swallowed pellets of cocaine.
According to him, Ernestina was arrested by officials on suspicion of having ingested narcotic drugs and a search conducted on her revealed that she had concealed 45 pellets of a whitish substance suspected to be cocaine in her panties.
She was also taken through a body scanner and that also revealed that she had foreign materials in her stomach.
According to Mr Ewuntomah, Ernestina told interrogators that someone by name Joyce had given her the drugs on credit for $22,000 and she was expected to sell it and make payment later.
She, however, could not assist NACOB officials to locate the said Joyce, whom she had claimed had sent a gentleman by name Chris to bring the drugs to her at a guest house at Kwashieman, Accra.
Millicent was arrested at the same time Ernestina was arrested and she was found to have concealed 33 pellets of cocaine in her underwear.
A body scan on her also revealed that she had ingested foreign materials. She was later sent to the offices of NACOB where she, just like Ernestina, is currently expelling cocaine she had swallowed.
She told interrogators that she had 125 pellets on her, out of which she swallowed 92 pellets.
According to the Deputy Executive Secretary of NACOB, the two women would be put before court immediately they finished expelling the pellets.