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| Arrest of drug couriers hits headlines again in Ghana
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Accra, Ghana (PANA) -
Arrest of narcotic drug dealers was one of the major stori
es in Ghana for the second week running, as the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB)
a
nd other security agencies step up their vigilance in the West African country a
n
d the government pats them on the back for doing a good job.
And the biggest fish this week, which saw six arrests, was the popular fashion d
esigner, Ibrahim Sima, who was arrested at the Kotoka International Airport here
on Monday night with five kilogrammes of cocaine concealed in four tubers of yam
.
â?EXOPA CEO grabbed with cocaine in tubers of yam,â? was the headline of the s
tate-owned Ghanaian Times newspaper.
It said the popular fashion designer and two others were arrested by NACOB for a
llegedly attempting to export narcotics substance.
Sima, 39-year-old Chief Executive Officer of EXOPA, a modelling agency, was arre
sted at the airport at about 2300 hours GMT when he was going through pre-depart
u
re formalities for a flight to Germany.
It quoted security sources as saying the four tubers of yam were found stuffed w
ith the drugs when he was about to board his flight. During a random check, the
y
ams were found to have been cut and rejoined.
Two others, 44 year-old Kwabedna Edusei, a factory worker in Italy, and James Ow
usu, 34, a trader, were arrested on Tuesday and Sunday respectively when they we
r
e about to board their flights. They had swallowed capsules of cocaine.
The state-owned Graphic had the headline â?EXOPA Agency CEO picked on suspicion
of drug traffickingâ?.
It said Sima was arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking with five kilogrammes
of a substance suspected to be cocaine concealed in four tubers of yam which we
r
e allegedly to be part of his luggage.
It said his Range Rover vehicle had been impounded by NACOB and his residence se
arched.
The Graphic also had another story which said three Americans were on Wednesday
arrested at the Kotoka International Airport on suspicion of drug trafficking.
Two of them, Abena Serwah, 19, and Shadrack Ntiamoah Bamfo, 23, are of Ghanaian
parentage while the third, Joanne Gabriel, 21, is an African-American.
It said besides concealing the suspected drugs in the three pairs of snickers th
ey were wearing, Serwah and Gabriel had stuffed their private parts with four la
r
ge lump-sized drugs.
â?Gabriel alone carried three of the four lump-size drugs in her private parts.
Also found on Serwaa was a talisman believed to have been secured to protect th
e
m against arrest.â?
The newspaper said for his part, Bamfo concealed 19 pellets of the suspected dru
gs in his underwear. They were arrested while going through departure formalitie
s
to travel to New York. The three suspects had arrived in Ghana on 2 September,
t
his year, on the sponsorship of someone identified only as Alhaji Saibu.
â?The suspects were allegedly sent to Ghana by Serwaa's boyfriend, whom they id
entified as Abubakari Issaka, based in Bronx, New York.â?
The newspapers also highlighted a press conference by the Deputy Information Min
ister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, highlighting the achievements of the government
t
hat came to power last January with the agenda of â?A Better Ghanaâ?.
The Graphic's story with the headline â?Governmentâ?s â?Better Ghanaâ? agend
a on course - Ablakwaâ? said the Deputy Minister indicated that with job creatio
n as part of the agendaâ?s main pillars, the government was to create employment
for 100,000 graduates and skilled and unskilled persons, through a public-priva
t
e sector partnership in the oil industry.
He said under the initiatives, a core group would be trained in the management o
f oil spillage at sea, while unskilled persons would be engaged to constantly cl
e
an the countryâ?s beaches and plant coconut trees along the beaches as a way of
improving sanitation in fishing communities.
Ablakwa said already, the trainers of trainers had received training in Nigeria.
They would train another set of supervisors and trainers in the management of o
i
l spillage.
The Times story said â?Ghana wonâ?t be narcotic trade haven â" Ablakwaâ? and
quoted Ablakwa as saying the government was on course to redeeming its campaign
pledge that it would not allow the country to be turned into a haven for narcoti
c
s trade.
He said a few months ago, Ghana was a fertile ground for the narcotics trade, an
d was gaining notoriety as a transit country buoyed by very confident drug baron
s
.
â?However, measures put in place by the new government have nipped in the bud t
he menace of drug trafficking,â? he said.
These measures include skills training for security personnel. He also noted tha
t government had put in place key strategies on drug detection, and plans to tra
n
sform NACOB into an autonomous Commission.
The newspapers also returned the issue of state funding of political parties, es
pecially with the Electoral Commission presenting a memorandum to the government
on the subject.
â?Government to consider funding of political parties,â? was the headline of t
he Graphic on the subject.
It said the President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, on Thursday met a delega
tion from the Electoral Commission (EC) and gave the assurance that the governme
n
t would seriously consider a proposal on public funding of political parties.
He also endorsed the ECâ?s recommendation that several zonal and unit committee
s across the country, which had become moribund, needed massive overhaul to meet
the ever increasing demands of society.
The closed-door meeting was between the President and a delegation from the EC c
omprising Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan and his two deputies, David Adenze Kanga and Sar
f
o Kantanka.
Briefing the media after the meeting, the presidential spokesman, Mahama Ayariga
, explained that President Mills was convinced that the political parties needed
some form of capital injection from the state to run their activities, especiall
y
during the period prior to general elections.
Ayariga said the president said at the meeting, which was at the instance of the
EC that lack of funding for political parties often overstretched their financi
a
l resources to breaking point, particularly during the year of election.
The Times said in its headline, â?Prez supports state funding of political part
iesâ? indicated that
President Mills declared his commitment to state funding of political parties, s
aying it is a relevant measure to enhance the countryâ?s multi-party democracy.
The president was of the view that such a funding would effectively address the
many financial and operational challenges confronting he political parties.
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| Accra - 12/09/2009 |
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