Three women – two South Africans and a Nigerian, have been remanded into custody by a High Court in Accra for allegedly smuggling over 16 kilograms of methamphetamine, a narcotic drug into Ghana.
The accused persons whose names have been withheld, were arrested at the Kotoka International Airport on January 20, 2025, by officials of the Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC).
They were arrested with the hard drugs concealed in suitcases belonging to them.
Although the court presided over by Justice Kizita Quarshie did not take their pleas as prayed by the prosecution, the three were remanded into lawful custody to reappear on February 11, 2025.
The accused persons who were not represented were asked by the court to secure the service of counsel before the next court date.
Watkins Adama, a Senior State Attorney had prayed the court to remand the three into lawful custody pending investigations. She prayed the Court to remand the accused persons into lawful custody.
He averred that the first and second accused persons were South Africans who travelled through Rwanda to Ghana and they were found in possession of identical suitcases which had over 16kg of methamphetamine, a narcotic drug, concealed in their suitcases.
“Control delivery involving the first and second accused led to the arrest of the third accused person, a Nigerian who had travelled from Nigeria to Ghana and she met first and second accused persons with similar suitcases to swap them for the narcotic drugs,” Mr. Adama told the court.
He also stated that other people had been mentioned therefore there is the need to further investigate the matter.
Mr. Adama added that the prosecution would also want the Ghana Standards Authority to confirm the nature of narcotic substances retrieved from the accused persons.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak