<<Print>>

Three security officers from the Ghana Police Service and Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) on Wednesday appeared before an Accra Circuit Court for allegedly supplying narcotic drugs. The officers, made up of two policemen and a BNI official, are accused of collecting dried leaves and substances suspected to be cannabis sativa and cocaine respectively, seized from peddlers after demanding GH�1,000 in order to free them. They are alleged to have given some seized drugs to an informant for sale. On the arrest of the informant known as Yakubu Eddisah unemployed, he mentioned the officers as his suppliers. Lance Corporals Isaac Okine, Dennis Maakogue Pwamang and Felix Bani from the BNI are being held for supply of narcotic drugs. Yakubu Eddisah, on the other hand, is being charged with two counts of possessing 32 wraps of cannabis and 38 wraps of whitish substances suspected to be cocaine. The court presided over by Mr Francis Obiri did not take the plea of the accused persons and remanded them into police custody to reappear on March 5. It further turned down bail application put in by the accused persons' counsels. Prosecuting Deputy Superintendent of Police Aidan Dery said because the case involved security personnel, it had forwarded a duplicate docket to the Office of the Attorney General for advice. Prosecution said the complainants were Policemen from Wa- Banda Police Highway Patrol Team whilst the accused persons are stationed at Bole. On February 13, this year, the patrol team had a tip-off that Eddisah was selling drugs at Banda-Nkwanta, a mining community near Bole. Prosecution said the team proceeded to the location where Eddisah was arrested with a quantity of dried leaves, 38 wraps of dried leaves suspected to be cannabis and 32 wraps of powdery substances suspected to be narcotic drugs. During interrogation, Eddisah claimed ownership of the substances but denied owning the cannabis. Prosecution said Eddisah mentioned Corporals Okine, Pwamang and Bani as his suppliers. According to Eddisah, he provided information to Corporals Okine and Pwamang leading to the arrest of some drug peddlers at Bole, while they also retrieved the suspected drugs from the peddlers. Eddisah further claimed that the officers collected GH�1,000 from some of the drug dealers and set them free; after which they handed over some of the drugs to him as his share of the booty. The security personnel denied knowledge of the offence.