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The National Security says the British fugitive arrested by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) on drug-related offences, had in his possession a Ghanaian passport originally issued to Mr. Adams Obeng, a student of Takoradi Polytechnic.

A letter from the National Security Council Secretariat yesterday [Wednesday] signed by Col. E.W.K. Nibo (Rtd.), and addressed to The Ghanaian Times, said the passport was issued on November 13, 2009, and that meant the accused, David McDermott, was holding a falsified document and “this has engendered another investigation altogether.”

 
The letter also said that the passport is blank and has not been used for any travels in or out of Ghana. 

This contradicts sharply with what the prosecutor in the case told the Accra Circuit Court ‘One’ on Monday when the accused was arraigned.

The Prosecutor, DSP A.A. Annor, had told the court that until his arrest last Friday, David McDermott had been operating a gold mining company in the Eastern Region and possessed a Ghanaian travelling passport bearing the name David Smith which he used to travel in and outside Ghana during the past three years.

DSP Annor told the court, presided over by Mr. Aboagye Tandoh, that McDermott was said to have transacted prohibited business between 2013 and 2016 in Ghana and in the UK.

However, the letter by the National Security said “the story is factually incorrect and no such information was given to the press at any point in time.

After the suspect was arrested by the BNI, his residence was searched and a Ghanaian passport bearing his name and picture was found. Checks later revealed that, that particular passport was issued to Adams Obeng, a student of Takoradi Polytechnic at the time, on 13th November 2009.This means that McDermott is holding a falsified document and this has engendered another investigations  altogether.

“Additionally, the passport is blank and has not been used for any travels in or out of Ghana as the story purports,” the letter added.