Police inspector remanded on drug charges

A 56 �year- old Police Chief Inspector and two others were on Friday remanded by an Accra Circuit Court for conspiracy to commit crime and in possession of narcotic drugs without lawful authority. Police Chief Inspector Paul Akpabli, Peter Kamasah, Driver and Daniel Ekualiho, Drivers mate were said to have in their possession seven fertilizer sacks containing 283 compressed slabs of plant material suspected to cannabis sativa. They all pleaded not guilty to the charges but were remanded into police custody to reappear on September 25. Presenting the facts of the case, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Cletus Abadamlora said the complainants are policemen stationed at the SWAT Unit at Ho in the Volta region. He said Akpabli is a serving Police Chief Inspector stationed at Golokoati as a station officer, while Peter is a driver at Dzodze in charge a Hyundai Bus with registration number AS 6936-09 , while Daniel is a mate. He said on August 10 at about 2230, complainants had information that the said vehicle driven by Peter was on the way from Kpeve en route to Dzodze loaded with the fertilizer sacks containing the cannabis. The prosecution said the complainant�s intercepted the bus at Sokode-Ando and found the accused persons on board. He told the court that Peter and Daniel on the spot told the complainant�s that they were contracted by one Edoe of Dzodze who gave them GH₵ 400.00 and the phone number of Chief Inspector Akpabli to contact him at Kpeve for the exhibits. ASP Abadamlora said Peter and Daniel alleged they met Akpabli at Kpeve and handed over the money to him, after which he led them to Kpeve-Tornu and loaded the exhibits into the bus. He said the two told the police that per the agreement, Chief Inspector Akpabli was to escort the exhibits to Dzodze, but half way through the journey, they were arrested. He said the complainant�s in the process retrieved GH₵ 1,100.00 from Akpabli of which the driver and his mate identified the GH₵ 400.00 in twenty Ghana cedis denominations as the one given to him.. According to the prosecution, initial investigations indicated that on the day of the incident, there were several phone calls between Peter and Akpabli.