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The Editor of the Finder Newspaper, Elvis Darko, has rubbished claims discounting the discovery of cocaine at the Tema Port that reportedly went missing.

The Sector Commander of the Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), at the Tema Port, Confidence Nyadzi, had earlier dismissed claims that 500 kilogrammes of cocaine worth about $30 million dollars had disappeared from the Port.

This was after the Finder reported that 10 bags of cocaine, hidden in a consignment of rice with an estimated street value of about $30million, had vanished from the Port under mysterious circumstances.

But speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr. Darko stood by his claims, insisting CEPS’ call for investigations into the development seems to suggest that some containers at the Port contained cocaine.

“For the Custom Man to say ‘nothing has happened’ and to say in the next moment that ‘they are conducting investigations’ is questionable. If the custom officer’s interview in one breadth said ‘we have done investigations into the matter’, and in another breadth says that ‘nothing has happened’, that is worrying.”

“You cannot say you have done investigations into an issue, and other institutions have done investigations and the next breadth you say nothing of that sort has happened so I am saying that if there are lapses, let’s look at where the lapses happened.”

He believes CEPs is denying claims that cocaine was discovered at the Port because “it is unwilling to admit that the cocaine went missing under their watch.”

Finder report on ‘missing’ cocaine

According to the Finder newspaper, a ship carrying some containers with cocaine on-board arrived at the Tema Port in December 2016, but the suspected cocaine vanished before February 23, 2017, when all stakeholders conducted compulsory tests on the container.

The report stated that, K9 Dogs, which are specially trained to detect cocaine, confirmed traces of cocaine in the said container, while UK’s Operation West Bridge also conducted sampling by the use of itemisers which also confirmed traces of cocaine.

The newspaper also said separate investigations it conducted on the suspected missing cocaine by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) and Customs, have been submitted to the Interior Minister and the Attorney General’s offices.