About 100.10 grams of a whitish substance suspected to be high value cocaine which was confiscated by the Customs Division of Ghana Revenue Authority at the Kpoglu Border Post in the Ketu South Municipality is missing.
According to the Narcotics Control Board [NACOB], the substance, together with an undisclosed amount of money went missing between Friday and Sunday, 5 -7 June, 2020, whist it in the custody of the Customs Division at the Aflao Border Post before it was transported to the headquarters of the Customs Division in Accra.
Francis Torkornoo, Director-General of NACOB explained that his officers impounded a vehicle that had concealed the substances under its fuel tank on Friday, June 5.
The narcotics substance and US$200,000 cash, which was in $100 and $50 bills, was in a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado vehicle with a Nigerian registration number, LSR 815 FV, which was crossing into Ghana from Togo.
According to Torkornoo, some of the substances were allegedly detected missing on Sunday, June 7, 2020, when the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) invited all agencies at the border post to verify the exhibits the Narcotics officers left in the custody of Customs on Friday.
The inspection was, however, to be done before the scheduled escort to the headquarters of the GRA in Accra.
Mr Torkonoo indicated that the Narcotics officers had protested that the substances per the Narcotics Control Commission Act were to be left in the custody of narcotics officers whilst investigations were being done but the Customs officers ignored the advice and insisted they would keep the aforementioned items in their custody and later transport it to their headquarters in Accra.
“The verification exercise revealed that, parcel (h), a 100.10g of whitish substance wrapped in transparent polythene, suspected to be cocaine, was missing,” he recounted.
Citing Section 72 of the Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 which also talks about seizure of currency, Francis Torkonoo said, NACOB has the “backing of the law to ask Customs to transfer the vehicle and all its contents to us for investigations to start in earnest, but since the seizure of the whitish substances suspected to be narcotics at the Kpoglu border on Friday June 5, 2020, we are yet to receive all the exhibits from the scene.”
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
