Wednesday, November 24, 2010 (Page 3)
THE Accra Fast Track High Court yesterday granted GH¢150,000 bail with three sureties, one to be justified, to one of the four persons accused of allegedly importing 125 slabs of cocaine with a street value of $10 million.
The court, presided over by Mr Justice Mustapha Habib Logo, granted bail to Edward Kojo Arhin, a clearing agent, after the prosecution had indicated it was not opposed to the grant of bail to Arhin.
Arhin was directed to report every other day to the investigator in charge of the case. The court also directed that the sureties for the accused person should be residents of Accra or Tema.
The court also gave the prosecution one week to come before it and justify why it (court) should continue holding Anthony Wilson, the Operations Manager of FormulaOne+, importers of the alleged narcotic drugs.
The first accused person, Benjamin Armstrong, was however, remanded in custody to reappear on November 30, 2010.
An accused six-month pregnant person, Kyerewaa Twum-Barimah, was on November 9, 2010 granted bail in the sum of GH¢80,000 with two sureties.
The court’s directive stemmed from an application for discharge or in the alternative grant of bail by counsel for Armstrong and Wilson, who argued on the grounds that there was no evidence to show his clients were guilty of any crime.
Arguing his motion for discharge of his clients or in the alternative grant of bail, Mr Joe Aboagye Debrah, informed the court that facts in the knowledge and possession of officials of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) clearly indicated that his clients were innocent of any crime.
According to counsel, Armstrong was financed by the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) to order additives for petroleum products from the United States of America (USA) and nowhere was he or
Wilson involved in the packaging and shipment of the products to Tema.
Counsel argued that the Master Bill of Laden accompanying the container containing the additives and cocaine proved that the consignee was Consolidated Shipping Services, adding that by law the consignee was the importer.
He also argued that the container belonged to Consolidated Shipping Services and nowhere did the bill of laden name Armstrong and Wilson as the owners.
Mr Debrah said Armstrong and Wilson never had any physical or legal control over the packaging and shipment of the additives, and that the seal of the suppliers of the additives had also been broken.
He said the NACOB was aware the seal was broken en route to Tema, adding that the security agency also knew the container was taken off the ship for three days while in Panama.
Mr Debrah stated that from the prosecution’s own facts and facts adduced from the bill of laden, it was abundantly clear the accused persons had not committed any crime.
He, therefore, prayed the court to look at the facts of the case and let justice prevail, adding that the accused persons were responsible citizens with fixed places of abode.
Responding to the defence counsel’s application, a Principal State Attorney, Mrs Evelyn Keelson, said the state was not opposed to bail for Arhin.
She, however, opposed the grant of bail for Armstrong and Wilson on the grounds that Armstrong travelled to the USA after placing the order for the fuel additives, while Wilson was the one who contracted the clearing agents to clear the fuel additives.
The court said it was not enough for the prosecution to state that Wilson was culpable for simply being the Operations Manager and accordingly gave the prosecution one week to convince it on why it should not grant bail to Wilson.
The brief facts of the case were that Armstrong ordered the fuel additives and when the consignment arrived in Tema, the container containing the fuel additives was found to contain boxes of fuel additives, advertising T-shirts and four travelling bags which were later found to contain 125 slabs of cocaine.
She said a field test conducted by NACOB officials indicated that the substances tested positive for cocaine.
Mrs Keelson said the drugs had been forwarded to the Ghana Standards Board for analysis while investigations were ongoing.
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