The government’s attempt to confiscate assets and property of convicted narcotics drug baroness Nayele Ametefe, aka Ruby Adu-Gyamfi, appears to be meeting stiff opposition from the family.
The government, through the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) has been able to seize assets, including bank accounts of Ruby who is currently serving a jail term in the United Kingdom following her arrested at Heathrow Airport in London with 12.5kg of cocaine she confidently carried through the VVIP wing of the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) in Accra.
However, the mother of the drug queen and another are claiming ownership of some of the property confiscated on the orders of an Accra high court presided over by Justice Georgina Mensah-Datsa last week.
The Challenge
According to report, six different bank accounts belonging to Ruby as well as her chandelier shop called Night Angels Enterprise on the Motorway Extension, Dzorwulu, Accra, have been confiscated; but her mother and others are contesting the confiscation of her East Legon, Accra, house as well as the Dzorwulu property and some buildings located at Pease near Kuntunase in the Bosomtwi District of the Ashanti Region.
Reports say Madam Akua Adubofo, the 58-year-old mother of Ruby, filed a counter suit in an attempt to prevent the state from confiscating the property at East Legon and a house believed to belong to the family at Pease.
She is insisting that the disputed property belongs to her instead of her daughter and is expected in court on April 27, 2016 to move her case.
Ruby’s House
Three weeks after her arrest, Daily Guide visited Pease and reported that the residents of the town did not seem to care about the arrest of their native.
Ruby’s house is located on the main road at the tail end of the town and is painted white with huge black gates plated with gold crowns, which observers claimed stand for the crown of the Queen of England.
Ruby, the townsfolk said, usually organised mouth-watering parties in the house whenever she was in town and claimed that top people in society usually attended such parties with expensive vehicles.
NACOB Moves
NACOB says it was taking the necessary steps to serve the convicted Nayele with the court’s ruling.
Lawyers of the people who are counter claiming the property have presented some documents indicating that they own the buildings, which they said were rented by the convict.
According to NACOB deputy director Nii Lante Blankson, the court also ordered that Fidelity Bank release the amounts in the bank accounts with the accrued interest to NACOB so that it could enforce the court’s orders as to the utilization of the monies.
Ruby aka Nayele Ametefe aka Angel aka Irene Tawiah and Ruby Appiah, 33, is currently serving eight years and eight month’s jail term in the United Kingdom after pleading guilty before the Isleworth Crown Court in London in January 2015.
Prosecutors said the cocaine carried by Nayele had a purity of 78% and a street value of £1.872 million. The prosecutors told the court that Nayele had $23,000 and an additional £6,000 in her handbag when she was arrested.
National Debate
The circumstances under which Ruby was arrested dominated the political discourse in 2014 and 2015 and put the government’s commitment to fighting the narcotic drugs trade under strenuous test.
Ruby departed from Accra on November 9, 2014 and was arrested at the Heathrow Airport the following day for carrying 12.5kg of cocaine in her handbag.
It later emerged that Ruby and her alleged gang of drug smugglers had used the highly restricted Very Very Important Personality (VVIP) section of the Kotoka International Airport (KAI) in Accra – reserved for the president and his top ministers – to board flight BA0778 to London.
Unofficial Spokespersons
The speed with which National Democratic Congress (NDC) government officials, including ministers of state, moved to defend the drug baroness – virtually turning into the convict’s spokespersons – was mindboggling, even though she had travelled on an Austrian Passport with the name Nayele Ametefe.
NACOB officials also goofed when they claimed they collaborated with their British counterparts in the arrest of Ruby, which turned out to be false.
Interesting Oversight
It also emerged that Ruby was driven to the tarmac at KIA by a powerful government official to board the plane.
In fact, she was brought to the airport by a member of the current administration.
The government, till date, has also not been able to answer the claim that a diplomatic vehicle from the Ghana High Commission in London was on the tarmac at Heathrow on the day of Ruby’s arrest and that the vehicle left without picking anybody.
Calls
A British intelligence source also said when Ruby was arrested, the said NDC top official’s telephone number was found on the baroness’ mobile handset as one of the last persons she had called before the BA078 flight left Accra.
Additionally, the same NDC top official was the first person Ruby had called on arrival at Heathrow when the plane touched down on November 10 and she was intercepted by the British law enforcers.
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