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The Accra Fast Track High Court has ordered the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to allow Christian Sheriff Asem Darkei, the man at the centre of the shipment and disappearance of 77 parcels of cocaine, to have access to a legal counsel of his choice. The court, presided over by Mr Justice Mustapha Habib Logo, said it was Asem Darkei�s constitutional right to have access to and confer with a legal counsel. The directive was given after Asem Darkei, who could not open his defence at the court�s sitting yesterday, told the court that the BNI had refused to allow him to receive visitors, including his family members who were to arrange a lawyer for him. He said in view of that he did not have a legal representation in court to enable him to open his defence. The court, therefore, adjourned the case to November 21, 2013, to allow the accused to have access to his lawyer and for the prosecutor, Mrs Yvonne Attakorah-Obuobisa, who was indisposed, to be present at the next sitting. Darkei, alias the Limping Man, is alleged to have played a major role in the shipment of 2,310 kilogrammes of cocaine with a face value of $138.6 million into the country in April, 2006. He was expected to open his defence yesterday. The prosecution closed its case on April 23, 2013. Arrest Darkei was arrested by BNI officials at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital on February 2, 2012, upon a tip off, after he had been pursued for years by the security agencies. He had gone to the hospital to seek medical treatment. He has, however, pleaded not guilty to three counts of conspiracy, importation and exportation of narcotic drugs. Facts of the case It is the case of the prosecution that around midnight on April 26, 2006, a vessel, the MV Benjamin, reportedly carrying about 77 parcels of cocaine, with each parcel weighing 30 kilogrammes, docked at Kpone/Tema and discharged the parcels. The parcels were offloaded into a waiting vehicle which carried them away. According to the prosecution, in the course of investigations, Darkei�s name featured prominently as the importer and/or owner of the drug. He was said to be the person who had chartered the vessel at a cost of $150,000 to tow another vessel from Guinea to Ghana, and, subsequently, carted the alleged 77 parcels. Ship owner jailed The disappearance of the cocaine led to the constitution of the Georgina Wood Committee and the subsequent trial of persons alleged to have played various roles in the importation.