Court remands 5 cocaine suspects

The Accra High Court, presided over by Justice Clemence J. Honyeduga, yesterday remanded in police custody, the five suspects, including a Ghanaian, who were arrested by the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) officials for allegedly bringing 400 kilogrammes of substances suspected to be cocaine into the country.

Their pleas were not taken, and they are to reappear before the court on December 13, 2013.

They are Ronald Oneill, captain of the Guyanese fishing vessel, MV ATTIYAH Georgetown, which carried the substances, Junior Curt Percival, chief engineer; Primchand Singh, cook; Marti Samuel, sailor, and Seth Grant, the Ghanaian.

On Tuesday, November 19, 2013, the five suspects were arrested by the Western Naval Command in territorial waters of  Ghana, following a tip-off from NACOB’s foreign partners who had been monitoring the movement of the vessel since it left the territorial waters of Guyana.

Soon after their arrest, a release issued in Accra and signed by the Chairman of the NACOB Board, Capt Baffour Assasie-Gyimah (retd), said NACOB recognised the anti-narcotic drug crusade as a shared responsibility.

It also said when NACOB officials heard about the movement of the vessel, they started monitoring it from the high seas and as soon as it got into the country’s territorial waters, Navy officers escorted the vessel to the Sekondi Naval Base and arrested its occupants.