…As top regional executive goes under international narcotics trafficking probe
The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) which for years fought to extricate itself from the narcotics drugs label, following its rampancy under President John Agyekum Kufuor, with the famous cocaine cases, would have to quickly return to the PR surgical ward for another cosmetic surgery to polish its image.
Like the Kufuor era, the party has once again been hit by another cocaine scandal, involving the smuggling of some 8.5 kilograms of illicit drugs through the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) to Morocco, but got grabbed by customs officials at Brussels Airport in Belgium onboard Royal Air Maroc.
The ruling party under Kufuor was saddled with cocaine scandals, including the arrest of its Member of Parliament (MP) for Nkoranza North, Eric Amoateng in the US, the drug-related arrest and jailing of the late Raymond Amakwah in Brazil, holding a diplomatic passport, the Venezuela Cocaine haulage and the MV Benjamin ship and the three NPP Dzorwulu Women matter among others. So bad was the menace that the Americans mocked Ghana as the “Cocaine Coast” of Africa to replace the Gold Coast.
Caught in the web of allegations in the recent case is Eric Nartey Yeboah alias “Chairman Dollar”, the Greater Accra Regional Second Chairman of the NPP. He is reported to have facilitated the smuggling of 8.5kg of illicit drugs through KIA to Belgium.
A well-known figure within the KIA and NPP circles, he was in early March, this year appointed as Cargo Security Manager along with Daniel Abugri. Before this, he was put in charge of private jets landing in Ghana.
The Herald is informed that, both British and American narcotics officials, have waded into the matter and are breathing heavily on Ghana to see how it handles the investigation. They have already received pictures and CCTV footage on the smuggling which occurred at 3 am on March 23, 2024.
The owner of the car which dropped off the female courier at KIA, according to The Herald’s sources is known, but he is yet to be arrested as he is believed to have fled the country or gone into hiding.
The owner is said to be known to the Narcotics officers as an illicit drug dealer who lives in the Lakeside Estates in the Adenta Municipality of Accra.
Interestingly, with the name of the governing NPP having popped up, many watchers are saying the Akufo-Addo government, could hush the investigation into the cocaine smuggling with dockets getting missing as happened in the case of the three Dzorwulu NPP women, who were similarly caught at KIA during the Kufor era smuggling cocaine, but were never prosecuted.
However, there is another school of thought, saying that with the involvement of Belgium, the Americans and the British, the government might be too scared to attempt a cover up or shielding those involved.
Before becoming an NPP Regional Executive in the Greater Accra Region, Eric, had been the Constituency Chairman in Madina Abokobi Constituency. He had also contested Madina NPP parliamentary primary with Boniface Abubakar Siddique, but lost to the latter.
He has since been interdicted together with three other officials of the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) to assist in an administrative inquiry into the cocaine smuggling which occurred on March 23, 2024.
Belgium had raised an alarm by firing a letter to Ghana’s Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) demanding an investigation into the smuggling of drugs into their country.
The Herald’s information is that one Asantewaa who is stationed at KIA, has been arrested and placed into custody after investigation and CCTV footages had shown her assisting the drug courier, a Dutch national, Proeger Delgey Bianca, a female, to evade airport security officials and the systems Central Screening Area of KIA. She did not go through body-searching, apparently coached to avoid wearing metal objects to trigger detectors.
Proeger Delgey Bianca, from Paramaribo in Suriname, a small country on the northeastern coast of South America, once colonized by the Dutch, was found to have concealed the cocaine around her waist, ingeniously disguised as undergarments, and used adhesive tape to secure the drugs down to her thighs, to her buttocks, portraying her as a woman with a heavy butt.
She managed to evade security checks with the assistance of the NACOC staff member, who escorted her through the Central Screening Area without undergoing the necessary protocols.
She wore a long flowing dress which covered her whole body down to her legs. Several videos of the incident, showed the NACOC staff helping Bianca with her luggage through the Central Screening Area of KIA on the date of her departure to Belgium, skipping the various security checks, except for her luggage which was scanned.
She carried a bowl-like object which looked like a big calabash, and did not go through the rigorous body search before boarding the Moroccan national carrier, Royal Air Maroc, on March 23, 2024.
In one of the videos available to The Herald, a man believed to be a senior officer identified as Eric Nartey Yeboah, also known as “Chairman Dollar,” was seen engaging some of the Aviation Security Personnel, thus distracting them from paying attention to Proeger Delgey Bianca’s presence and that NACOC official.
Eric Nartey Yeboah, whom the GACL, has since interdicted him together with some other staff implicated in the cocaine smuggling incident, was not officially on duty during the night of the smuggling incident.
However, his presence at the airport at 3 am during the critical period, and his suspicious behaviour, have raised eyebrows.
The 55-year-old Proeger Delgey Bianca, spent only five days in Ghana. She arrived on the March 18, 2024 and was on her way out on March 23, 2024, using a Netherlands passport numbered NN6C16RB1.
A statement from GACL, dated April 10, confirmed the commencement of investigations and the interdiction of the staff involved in the incident following The Herald’s exposè of the cocaine smuggling saga at KIA.
The statement, said that GACL had interdicted all staff implicated in the recent cocaine smuggling incident at the KIA.
The management of GACL, reiterated its warning to staff about assisting passengers at the airport, “failing which punitive measures not limited to but including summary dismissals and prosecutions by the State will be effected in line with existing protocols.”
Management wishes to assure the general public of its commitment and determination, in collaboration with stakeholders to ensure that operations at the airport are safe and secure.
