General News of Friday, 12 July 2019
Source: crimecheckghana.org
2019-07-12
Ibrahim Oppong Kwarteng (L) with Kofi Osei Boateng (R)
63-year-old Kofi Osei Boateng who was angered by the treatment meted to him by the Narcotics Control Board has finally received a new passport.
Osei Boateng’s German residency permit and passport were seized at the Kotoka International Airport for trying to traffic cocaine to Germany in 2005 but fortunately for him, the court ordered that after his ten years prison sentence, his passport and permit should be returned to him by Narcotics Control Board.
According to him, he has been chasing his document since he left prison in 2013 but to no avail
“I have been going after those documents for the past 6 years but they are not willing to give me back my document not even after I have sued them at the Human Rights Court” he said.
The 63-year-old finally received a new Ghanaian passport facilitated by the Narcotics Control Board.
“Now I have my passport but I will continue to pursue them till I get my residency permit back” he noted.
Mr. Osei Boateng received GHC1000 from CCF’s donors as money for his upkeep.
BACKGROUND
A 63-year-old angered German ‘burger’, Kofi Osei Boateng is furious over treatment meted to him by the Narcotics Control Board.
Narrating his story to Crimecheckghana, Osei Boateng said, he was arrested at the Kotoka International Airport in 2005 on his way back to Germany for possessing narcotics and was slapped with a 10-year sentence.
“I worked in an Automobile company in Germany but I was lured by friends into trafficking Narcotics. Unfortunately for me on my third attempt, I was arrested and everything on me was seized including my German residency permit, passport and some money’ he said.
According to him, the Accra Circuit court ruled that after his sentence, everything seized on him should be given back to him adding that “after I have served my sentences in 2012, I visited the Narcotics Control Board to retrieve my seized items but to no avail”.
He lamented saying, “It has been 7-years now and they are playing hide and seek with me, I even took them to court and the court ruled that my items be returned to me but I am yet to receive them’.
Osei Boateng complained how the seizure of the items has restricted his movement and any attempt to engage in any business whatsoever.
Explaining further, he said he had a wife and 3 kids in Germany before his arrest and he loved to pay them a visit and possibly return to normal life but those thoughts remain wishes since NACOB still has a hold on his documents
“I live like a pauper in a friend’s fitting shop at Avenor, at 63-years, I rely on the benevolence of others to keep body and soul together,” he said.
He insisted the board gives him back his document with compensation.
“ I am not a violent person but they have to obey the law and give me back my resident permit and passport, the last time I went there I noticed they had filed for a new passport for me” he said.
