Cocaine Saga: Ghana�s Visit To Ametefe �Very Strange� � UK Prosecutor

The visit of Ghana�s High Commission in the UK to Nayele Ametefe, the woman standing trial in the Isleworth Crown Court in London for drug trafficking was very strange, a prosecutor in the UK has stated. Godwin Agyei Gyamfi, the UK based Ghanaian prosecutor explained that it was rather the Austrian mission and not the Ghanaian mission that should be visiting Ametefe since she was arrested as an Australian. �This is something I am puzzled about because if you travel on an Austrian passport to another country and you are detained, it should be the Austrian mission that should be visiting you and not the Ghanaian mission,� he said. He stressed that, �from my experience, and I am sure my former colleagues in the UK will back me up that, it is very strange, it is very strange indeed �..it�s unusual for your foreign mission to send a delegation to the court. I have been dealing with this kind of matters for just under a decade and you will never see a mission of any country sending a delegation to the court for an ordinary person arrested, saying there are lots of Ghanaians arrested in the UK for drugs imports. It happens all the time, you never see the Ghanaian mission visiting them.� A three man-delegation in a 4X4 vehicle with registration number 165447D is reported to have been sent from the Ghana High Commission in the UK to witness Ametefeh�s trial when the case was first called on the 27th of November, 2014. Nayele Ametefeh alias Ruby Appiah, last Thursday appeared before the Isleworth Crown Court in West London via video link for a preliminary hearing after she was remanded in custody for attempting to smuggle 12.5 kilograms of cocaine into the UK. Nayele Ametefeh pleaded guilty to carrying cocaine to the UK and the case has since been adjourned to January 5, 2015. Government officials have revealed that the lady in question traveled from the Kotoka International Airport on an Austrian passport, and insist she did not travel on a Ghanaian passport, whether ordinary or diplomatic as earlier claimed. According to a press release signed by the Deputy Executive Secretary of the Narcotics Control Board, Richard Nii Lante Blankson, "it is worthy to note that Ms. Nayele Ametefe travelled on an Austrian passport number P4187659 and not on Ghanaian Diplomatic passport as being speculated. "She also had in her possession an ordinary Ghanaian passport number G0364497 issued on 3rd August, 2012.� But speaking on an Accra-based Adom FM Monday morning, Mr. Agyei Gyamfi pointed out that if Ms Ametefeh travelled on an Austrian passport, it is the responsibility of the Austrian government to provide consular support, instead of the Ghana High Commission, which had earlier sent two consular officers to the prison ahead of the trial. "I see it to be very strange that the Ambassador will release Ghanaian delegations to visit the lady while they know that she travelled on an Austrian passport. �Such a situation can (only) happen to a very significant person and so I find it very strange,� he added.