The April 26, 2014 drug bust at Heathrow Airport of David Kojo Anim – the owner of Le Baron Hotel at East Legon in Accra -, has uncovered his curiously strong connection with the opposition New Patriotic Party and some of its key stalwarts.
Investigations by the Republic newspaper revealed that apparently, David Anim, described by the London Metropolitan Police as the leader of a global drug cartel, was particularly close to the top hierarchy of the NPP, including Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, the party’s Presidential candidate for the 2012; party financier and MP for Assin North, Kennedy Agyapong, the party’s former National Chairman, Jake Otanka Obetsebi Lamptey, former Attorney General, Ayikoi Otoo, among others.
These people are said to have regularly held meetings at the Le Baron Hotel prior to the 2012 elections.
Ken Agyapong is quoted as saying that Mr. Anim donated thousands of motorbikes to help in the NPP’s 2012 campaign. The motorbikes customized with the label ‘Le Baron’ generated serious controversies after the NPP lost the elections when Ken Agyapong accused party Chairman and his ‘boys’ of diverting the bikes for their personal use.
The owner of Le Baron is also alleged to have donated up to US$2 million towards the NPP’s 2012 campaign.
David Anim, tie with the NPP even goes further higher; his business partner-one Joseph Nwabuaze-, a Nigerian drug baron linked to the 2006-2007 cocaine haul of the infamous MV Benjamin, was said to have been dating the then President John Agyakum Kufour’s ‘daughter’, Nana
Mr. Nwabuaze’s drug trial that year- with Ayikoi Otoo as the Attorney General-, collapsed, allegedly because of the former’s connection with the then First Family.
David Anim and Mr. Nwabuaze, were said to have used their dealership in an energy drink called Rhino Energy Drink to front their drug trade which was flourishing under the NPP administration. The web of connection between the NPP and David Anim gets even more intriguing, considering the fact that he was a tight friend of the party’s new General Secretary, Kwabena Agyei Agyapong when they were teenagers until recently, when they had a feud over a vehicle allegedly acquired for the latter some few years ago.
The NPP and some of its members have been linked with illicit drug usage and trade in the past, with incidence such as the busting of one of its sitting MPs-Joseph Amoateng who was trying to spirit drugs into the USA and the alleged busting of Akufo Addo at the Heathrow Airport for possessing some quantities of Marijuana believed to be his personal cache.
It has been alleged that the NPP’s close association with drug kingpins makes it imperative that many of its presidential campaigns have depended heavily on drug cash.
David Anim who is believed to have financed the NPP in several ways, is said to have been personally introduced to the party several years ago by Kennedy Agyapong, who has been under widespread suspicion of dealing in drugs. He had denied any drug dealing. “It is just his associations that are bad,” a source close to Mr. Agyapong told the Republic newspaper. “He has a Green Card, if he was [dealing in drugs], the CIA would have picked him up a long time ago,” the source stated. The source-preferring anonymity-, however conceded that one of Kennedy Agyapong’s sisters and a brother-in-law who owns a string of fuel stations, were ‘hardcore’ drug dealers.
The Republic newspaper has not been able to reach Mr. Agyapong who is currently on a sojourn in the United States.
Over the weekend, The Herald newspaper broke the news of David Anim’s arrest for alleged drug trafficking and money laundering.
Anim was described by the security agencies as the leader within the drug trafficking organisation responsible for coordinating the transportation of large quantities of cocaine and heroin around the world.
He is also alleged to have serious ties with major drug gangs in Europe, South America and the United States of America.
The two suspects were said to have delivered 500 kilo grammes of heroin to undercover drug enforcement officials on January 22, 2014 without any incident.
According to the Deputy Executive Secretary of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), Nii Lante Blankson, his arrest was in pursuant to a provisional arrest warrant issued by the United States for the arrest of the two Ghanaians and a Nigerian.
He said Anim had been able to escape arrest until April 26, 2014 when he was busted at the Heathrow Airport while going through arrival formalities.
The suspects in David Anim’s drug gang are expected to be extradited from the United Kingdom to the Unites States to face trial.