Ghana police in court over missing drugs haul

ACCRA - Five Ghanaian policemen appeared in court on Monday in connection with the disappearance of a major drugs shipment that has tarnished top officials and shaken the West African country's political establishment.

The disappearance of more than 2 tonnes of smuggled cocaine while it was meant to be under police surveillance in April prompted the interior minister to appoint a panel of judges to probe links between law enforcement chiefs and drug barons.

The director general of police operations and several top members of the interior ministry's narcotics control board have already been suspended and more charges may follow since the committee of judges submitted its report on Friday.

At Monday's hearing, chief state prosecutor Cab Beyuo said the five junior police officers took money from a drug trafficker in April after receiving a tip-off that the drugs were being unloaded from a boat near the main port of Tema.

"Instead of making an arrest, the accused sat in the drug traffickers' vehicle, went to his residence, extorted money and allowed him to go scot-free," Beyuo told the court. He did not specify the amount of money involved.

All five pleaded not guilty to the charge of extortion and were bailed to appear in court on November 2.

The five were the first to be charged directly in connection with the missing shipment of cocaine, although several people face drugs-related charges after being implicated in illegal activity during the judges' hearings.

The director general of police operations was suspended after the committee heard he had entertained suspected drug barons at his home, although he said his superiors had been made aware and he was working undercover.

The case has highlighted the role of West Africa in a global drug smuggling route which sees cocaine produced in Latin America smuggled across the Atlantic and then north to Europe or elsewhere, often in the stomachs of drug "mules".

The high-profile case began when foreign intelligence agents informed Ghanaian authorities that a merchant ship, MV Benjamin, was being used to smuggle drugs.

The vessel was put under surveillance by security services, but when Ghanaian authorities raided it, all but one of the 78 packages of cocaine reported to be on board -- each weighing around 30kg -- had vanished.

In its hearings, the panel of judges heard that 5kg of the one remaining package seized by the narcotics control board was also later found to have been removed. That revelation prompted a separate interior ministry investigation that led to the suspension of at least two top members of the narcotics board.

The judges also investigated allegations that a senior police detective demanded a large bribe in connection with an investigation into a separate 588kg consignment of cocaine found at the home of two Venezuelan nationals in Ghana's capital Accra. The two are on trial.

Last year, Ghanaian member of parliament Eric Amoateng was arrested in New York, where he faces trial on drug trafficking charges.

- REUTERS