A British citizen, Ezekiel Ojay Gilbert-Smith, has been remanded into prison custody by a High Court in Accra for allegedly conspiring and attempting to export 142.9 kilograms of cocaine to the United Kingdom through the Kotoka International Airport.
He was arrested on July 17, 2024, whilst he was going through departure formalities at the Kotoka International Airport to board a British Airline flight to the United Kingdom, after he was identified as the person who contracted two convicts to transport the drug.
His arrest followed an earlier arrest of two of his accomplices – Omar Adel Graham and Ethline Shamin Hall, who had confessed that that the six suitcases containing 144 compressed slabs of the hard drug were given to them by Smith.
He has been charged with conspiracy, attempted exportation of narcotic drugs without licence and possession of narcotic drugs for trafficking without authority. He pleaded not guilty.
His accomplices, Omar Adel Graham and Ethline Shamin Hall were arrested at the Kotoka International Airport on June 10, 2024 by officials of Narcotic Control Commission (NACOC) during profiling on suspicion of trafficking narcotic drugs.
They identified their six (6) suitcases – three each checked in at the tarmac and when the suitcases were opened in their presence, each suitcase was found to contain 24 compressed slabs of whitish substances suspected to be cocaine.
When a field test was conducted on these substances, they proved positive for cocaine, a narcotic drug.
The 144 compressed slabs of whitish substances were forwarded to Ghana Standards Authority for analytical examination and report, which proved positive for cocaine with a total net weight of 142.9kg.
Omar Adel Graham informed the NACOC officials that the suitcases and their contents were given to him by some people he did not know, and that he was contracted by one Toney Wise and Taj to come to Ghana in order to bring the six suitcases and their contents to the United Kingdom at a fee.
Court documents indicate that Omar Adel Graham and Ethline Shamin Hall gave a vivid description of Ezekiel Ojay Gilbert-Smith, as the person who gave the suitcases containing the narcotic drugs to them to be taken to the United Kingdom.
The two later entered into a plea agreement with the Republic after which they were convicted and sentenced.
Bail Application
Louis Kudzo, counsel for Gilbert-Smith, in an oral application for bail, said the prosecution are in possession of the travel document of the accused person, hence he is not a flight risk.
He added that there will be persons to stand surety for him and they will make sure that the accused attends court.
The application was opposed by Frederick Adu Gyamfi, a State Attorney who argued that the accused has been charged with a serious offence, the minimum punishment for which is ten years imprisonment, hence will not appear to stand trial if granted bail.
“As provided in the law, the accused person does not have any permanent place of abode within the jurisdiction. He is of high flight risk. He has no ties or whatsoever in the Republic, and based on these reasons, we have a strong conviction that if he is granted bail he will not appear to stand trial,” Mr. Gyamfi added.
Justice Kizita Naa Quarshie, the trial judge, refused the application on ground that the accused person did not demonstrate sufficiently that he will come to stand trial if granted bail.
She also held among other things that the accused has not shown any social ties within the jurisdiction and poses a high flight risk.
She remanded the accused into prison custody and adjourned the case to February 24 for case management.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak