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Mr Micheal Addo (right), the Deputy Executive Secretary of NACOB, presenting some of the items to Mr Edwin Ahadzie of House of Saint Francis Rehablitation Centre
Mr Micheal Addo (right), the Deputy Executive Secretary of NACOB, presenting some of the items to Mr Edwin Ahadzie of House of Saint Francis Rehablitation Centre

Properties of Nayele, others given to charity

Items mainly belonging to the convicted drug baron, Nayele Ametefe, which were confiscated by the Narcotic Control Board (NACOB), have been distributed to three rehabilitation centres.

The items are mainly furniture and office equipment from the convict’s business venture, Night Angels Enterprise, located on the Dzorwulu Motorway Extension in Accra.

The female drug baron was busted at the Heathrow Airport in London in 2014 with 12 kilogrammes of cocaine and is currently serving an eight-year jail term in the United Kingdom (UK).

The donation of the items followed an order by the Accra High Court last month for the properties of the drug baron to be given to charity.

Some of the items donated include those belonging to other busted drug barons whose details were not given by NACOB.

Presentation

The Deputy Executive Director of NACOB, Mr Michael Addo, presented the items to the Addicted Diseases Unit of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, the Dafarec Rehabilitation Centre at Medie and the House of St Francis Rehabilitation Centre at Ashaiman, all in the Greater Accra Region.

He presented the items to officials of the three institutions at a ceremony at the NACOB Head Office in Accra yesterday as part of activities marking World Drugs Day scheduled for Monday, June 26, this year.

The law

Speaking to journalists shortly after the presentation, Mr Addo explained that the law required that the properties of people who were convicted for drug offences be confiscated and given to charity.

“What is done is that if you are convicted for drug offences, you are not allowed to enjoy the proceeds of the drug trade and so we take the items and, in our case, present them to rehabilitation centres.

“We have been seizing houses, cars and other valuables from drug dealers. We have auctioned some of these valuable assets, while others are still being processed as and when we get the opportunity.

“The thinking behind this move is that the drug barons are those who made hard drugs available to members of the public to take and get addicted, so once the proceeds are seized from them, we need to use them to facilitate the recovery process of drug addicts,” he said.

Drug fight

Touching on efforts to fight the menace, Mr Addo urged members of the public to play the whistle-blowing role by providing relevant information that would lead to the clamping down of perpetrators of the infamous trade.

He gave an assurance that NACOB was on top of the fight to rid the country of the illicit drug business, stressing “what we are more concerned about is the use of cannabis. It is grown everywhere in the country, including backyards and people’s rooms”.

“The worrying development is the alarming rate at which the youth are getting involved in the use of these drugs. This calls for collective action involving parents, school authorities, religious bodies and state institutions to effectively deal with this nagging issue,” he said.

He said the focus of this year’s World Drugs Day was to create awareness among students in second-cycle institutions who were the vulnerable group in the use of drugs.

Appeal

Officials from the three beneficiary institutions lauded the gesture by NACOB, observing that the items would facilitate their work.

The Head of the Addictive Diseases Unit at Korle Bu, Mr Logosu Amegashie, who received the items on behalf of the hospital, called for support from the public for drug addicts.

Mr George Mends, a House Manager at the House of St Francis Rehabilitation Centre, also called on the government and individuals to support rehabilitation centres with logistics.

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