Breaking

20/06/2016

Africa Drug Baron Ghana
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The Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) and the

Accra High Court are on a collision course over

bail terms granted to a Nigerian drug baron

described by the security agencies as a kingpin in

the narcotic drug business in West Africa.


The baron, Chief Sunny Ekechukwu Benjy Eke, who
had been on remand at the Nsawam Medium
Security Prisons since 2013 for attempting to
smuggle 281,604 grammes of liquid cocaine with a
street value of more than $12.5 million into the
country, was granted bail by the Accra High Court
last Thursday.

The court, presided over by Mr Justice J. K. Dorgu,
granted Chief Eke and his accomplice, James Elike
Chukwu, bail in the sum of GH¢200,000, with three
sureties each.

The bail terms were that all the sureties should be
Ghanaians who are gainfully employed and whose
places of abode should be known to the police.
International drug agencies

The bail terms have angered top officials of
NACOB, as its Executive Secretary, Mr Yaw Akrasi
Sarpong, has described the terms as very
unfortunate because Chief Eke is known to have
jumped bail in Brazil and all the international drug
agencies were hard on his tail but could not arrest
him until he was arrested in Ghana.

Reacting to the court’s decision in Accra last Friday,
Mr Sarpong said NACOB’s challenge was that the
judge, in using his discretion as required by law,
should have considered the past record of the
suspect, which is public knowledge.

He said the fight against trans-national organised
crime was not for the security agencies alone but
the whole justice delivery system in the country.
He warned that if the suspect escaped, nobody
should blame NACOB because the board would use
meagre state resources or property to monitor the
suspect as “he walks free on the streets of Accra, a
situation which he could take advantage of to
escape again”.

Organised crime
He said the plea of NACOB was that while the
Judiciary upheld the 1992 Constitution and the rule
of law, there was the need to understand that the
characters involved in trans-national organised
crime, such as suspect Chief Eke, could undermine
democracy, promote impunity of the private sector
against the public sector, engender corruption both
in the public and the private sectors, as well as
give cause for the rise of fake and wrong role
models.

“For NACOB, the condition under which the accused
was granted bail was not the best, judging from his
past record of jumping bail. Besides, we are aware
that the wheel of justice is a slow processs, but no
matter how slow it is, justice is more likely to
prevail than injustice,” he said.

He expressed concern over the erroneous scientific
concept that the state was more powerful than the
private sector, saying that trans-national organised
crime could generate money on the black market
which the state did not have.

He said drug business and money could be linked
to terrorism, cyber crime, money laundering, human,
arms and wild life trafficking, among other crimes.

Background
On February 13, 2013, the Daily Graphic carried a
story about the seizure of the largest quantity of
cocaine in recent years at the Tema Harbour,
estimated to be 200 kilogrammes, with a street
value of $12 million.

The drug was concealed in a 40-footer container
filled with 1,946 boxes of shampoo imported from
Bolivia in South America to Ghana.

The owner, Chief Eke, a 53-year-old Nigerian
businessman, was arrested, together with another
accomplice, James Elike Chukwu, 47, a second-
hand clothes dealer in Accra.

Chief Eke was described by international law
enforcement agencies as a notorious drug baron
who had been involved in several drug seizures in
Brazil and Bolivia.

The success of the operation was the result of co-
operation among the security agencies in the
country and their international partners.

In December 2012, NACOB, through its foreign
counterparts, received intelligence that cargo said to
contain a quantity of cosmetics was heading to the
Tema Harbour from Bolivia and was suspected to
contain some narcotic substances.

Surveillance mounted
On January 29, 2013, the said cargo, which was
shipped in a 40-footer container marked MRK
257478-45 GI belonging to MAESRK Shipping Lines
and consigned to De Consumables Lines Limited,
docked at the Tema Harbour and officials of
NACOB, who were on standby, immediately
mounted surveillance on it.

After almost two weeks, a clearing agent arrived
with the necessary documents to clear the goods
and he was arrested to assist in investigations and
the container was later traced to Elike Chukwu, who
was arrested at his residence at Aplaku Junction,
near Weija.

Upon interrogation, Elike Chukwu told NACOB
officials that the real owner of the goods was Chief
Eke.

It took NACOB over one week of controlled
operation to lure Chief Eke back into the country for
his arrest at the Accra Shopping Mall, where he had
scheduled a meeting with Chukwu and the clearing
agent.

He had in his possession four Nigerian passports
with different names at the time of his arrest.
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