The New Patriotic Party says the decision by the state to discontinue the case involving the Nayele cocaine suspects only deepens suspicions about the government’s complicity in the scandal.
The state on Tuesday February 24, 2015 filed a nolle prosequoi against six persons said to have abetted Nayele Ametefe to smuggle 12.5 kilograms of cocaine from Ghana to the UK.
She was arrested at the Heathrow airport in November last year and later sentenced to eight years imprisonment by the Isleworth Crown Court in London.
Six others were also arrested in Ghana as accomplices to the incarcerated Nayele Ametefe.
One of the suspects was reported to have facilitated the movement of Ametefe through the VVIP terminal at the Kotoka International Airport, a place meant for the president and few high ranking ministers of state.
Since the scandal broke the New Patriotic Party has consistently accused the government of complicity.
The party could not understand how the convict carried 12.5 kg of cocaine through the heavily guarded VVIP into the airport without being noticed.
With the decision by the state to discontinue the case against the six suspects, the NPP said it is not surprised.
In a statement issued in Accra Tuesday the party said the state had in fact shown little or no interest at all in the case and was not surprised it has decided to discontinue it.
The statement said the discontinuation lends “more credence to the suspicion that this trial was a mere show trial”.
“The questions still then remain: Who should be held responsible for Nayele Ametefe travelling the VVIP lounge when she was not entitled, and how she carried 12.5kg of cocaine through the VVIP of the Kotoka International Airport, and who aided and abetted her?
“This situation has deepened the already great suspicion of government’s complicity in this whole Ms. Ametepe cocaine smuggling saga,” the statement said.
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THE NAYELE AMETEFE COCAINE SAGA – THE COMPLICITY DEEPENS
The Naayele Ametefe cocaine sage has given rise to widespread belief in the complicity of the NDC government.
The circumstances in this matter give credence to this widespread belief: Ms. Ametefe’s transit through the VVIP lounge at Kotoka International Airport, her carrying of cocaine in her hand luggage through the VVIP lounge, the Diplomatic Car on the tarmac at Heathrow Airport that came to meet Ms Ametefe’s flight, her arrest on the plane to prevent her from disembarking, the official cover-up attempts (NACOB’s false co-operation with British security, conflicting stories from various Ministers of State regarding Nayele’s use of the VVIP lounge, and conflicting stories on Alhaji Dawuud’s arrest, etc, have all lent credence to the belief of government’s complicity.
In the aftermath of Ms. Ametefe’s conviction in a London court, the government announced the arrest of 6 people accused of aiding and abetting Nayele. Government also made a show of seizing properties of Ms. Ametepe in accordance with the law.
Nothing much seems to have come out of these trumpeted actions. The announcement of an action to confiscate Ms Ametepe’s properties seems to have been just that – an announcement. The prosecution of those accused of being accomplices who aided and abetted Ms. Ametefe suffered from several non-appearances in court by prosecution officials. On 24 th February, 2015, the prosecution has ended in a nolle prosequi (i.e official termination of the prosecution) lending even more credence to the suspicion that this trial was a mere “show trial”.
The questions still then remain: Who should be held responsible for Nayele Ametefe travelling the VVIP lounge when she was not entitled, and how she carried 12.5kg of cocaine through the VVIP of the Kotoka International Airport, and who aided and abetted her?
This situation has deepened the already great suspicion of government’s complicity in this whole Ms. Ametepe cocaine smuggling saga.
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