Ruby Adu Gyamfi aka Angel aka Nayele
The Isleworth Crown Court in London will today give its judgment on the Ruby Cocaine Scandal in which 32-year-old Ghanaian-born Nayele Ametefeh aka Ruby Adu Gyamfi is standing trial for drug trafficking.
Ruby was busted at the Heathrow Airport in London on Monday, November 10, 2014 for attempting to smuggle 12.5kg of substances suspected to be cocaine, with a street value of over $5 million, a charge she has since pleaded guilty to.
Presiding judge Martin Demunds subsequently deferred judgment to today to enable investigators conclude their work against the suspect, who has since refused to disclose the names and identities of her accomplices in the drug business.
Several Ghanaians living in London are expected to throng the Isleworth Court today to observe proceedings themselves, like they did during the last hearing which lasted barely five (5) minutes.
It is not certain if Ruby would be brought to court for judgment to be given or she would again observe proceedings from the prison facility.
Facts On File
Two other ladies who travelled together with her to London on that ‘journey of no return’, Sadalia Nuhu and Nana Akua Amponsah, and four others connected to the case including Alhaji Dawood Mohammed who arranged the VVIP passage for the suspects, were later arrested in Ghana and are currently on bail after being put before an Accra circuit court.
If found guilty, legal experts say Ruby, who was said to be wielding an Austrian passport during her arrest, could be sentenced to 10 years or more in prison custody.
When she appeared on Thursday, November 27, 2014 via a video conference and was asked if she was guilty of the importation of cocaine, she responded ‘yes’.
The suspect addressed the judge via video conferencing from a prison facility where she was being held.
She was calm in her light green apparel and did not look too worried, according to reports.
It was the first time the case was called in court for preliminary proceedings to begin, after she was remanded by an Uxbridge Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, November 11, upon her arrest at the Heathrow Airport in London.
It emerged that she and her friends, with whom she travelled to the UK on that fateful day, were allowed to use the VVIP section of the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) as stated on the charge sheet for the prosecution of her friends back home in Ghana, even though government and its assigns claimed it was rather the VIP section.
Ruby Adu-Gyamfi and her alleged gang of cocaine smugglers used the highly restricted Very Very Important Personality (VVIP) section of the Kotoka International Airport reserved for the President and his top ministers to board flight BA078 to London on November 9.
Plea
Ruby pleaded guilty to the charge of fraudulently importing 12.5kg of cocaine in a hearing that lasted barely five minutes.
Her guilty plea came as a surprise to many including state prosecutor Revinden Johal, who was present in court when the case came up for hearing, since according to him, ‘I was shocked to see so many people come to find out or to learn or to some connection (sic) to the accused and it was sad that not all of them could get into court to witness what is quite an amazing case; the sheer speed at which the arrest took place and suddenly we find someone pleading guilty two weeks later.’
The lady however did not make any disclosures with regard to names of her possible accomplices or who sent her with the narcotic drugs and who she was sending the substance to in the UK.
Faceless Military Officials
Meanwhile, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Hannah Tetteh, has advised Ghanaians to disregard allegations being circulated on social media by some ‘faceless persons’ purporting to be army officials regarding the Nayele cocaine saga.
In a post on her Facebook page on Sunday, Ms Tetteh said some ‘nameless and faceless persons within the military… writing under pseudonyms on social media platforms’ are claiming they have evidence to prove some government officials indeed assisted Nayele Ametefe to transport 12.5 kilograms of cocaine to the United Kingdom (UK).
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
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