Court adjourns cocaine case for lack of interpreter

Accra, April 10, GNA - Trial of the 37-year-old Moroccan woman busted by officials of Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) for alleged drug trafficking was on Tuesday adjourned to Wednesday by an Accra Circuit Court.

The court took the decision because there was no French interpreter at post to assist Fatima Elouardi who could not speak good English.

Plea of the accused charged with the importation and possession of whitish substances suspected to be narcotic drugs, was not taken and was remanded to re-appear on April 11.

Fatima who travelled on Emirates Airlines flight Number E.K 788 on transit from Sao Paulo, Brazil via Dubai was arrested with 2.7 kilogrammes of cocaine shortly on arrival in Accra on Thursday, April 5. The street value of the cocaine is million.

When the case was called, Mr Asiamah Sampong, Principal State Attorney prayed the court presided over by Ms Audrey Kokuvi Tay to remand the accused on the provisional charges and should not take her plea to allow the State more time to complete the investigations.

Ms Tay however, refuted claims of the prosecution that there are provisional charges in law and should either enter a plea or the accused should be remanded for six days.

Mr Sampong however said the six days remand would not be enough for the prosecution to complete investigations into the matter.

The accused who was in tears explained to the court in Pidgin English that she bought the bag in South Africa but did not know how the whitish substance found its way into it.

Mr Yaw Akrasi-Sarpong, Executive Secretary of NACOB told newsmen on the arrest of the accused that one Youssef Salloum, 41, a Lebanese national believed to be an accomplice of Fatima is on the run.

He said security agencies had mounted a search for the arrest of Salloum, a resident at Dzorwulu in Accra.

Mr Akrasi-Sarpong said Fatima's arrest was the result of collaboration between NACOB and its international partners which had been monitoring movement of the accused and her accomplice for sometime now.

He said Fatima had been visiting Ghana for sometime now with Sao Paulo as her destination, and for the first time travelled from Morocco to Accra on March 19, 2012 and was met on arrival by Salloum who checked her into Golden Tulip Hotel.

The following day, Salloum bought an Emirates Airline ticket for her and took her to the KIA to travel to Sao Paulo.

In Sao Paulo, Fatima met her alleged supplier, Kamil Jawahiri, alias Salim, a Lebanese, who was living in Ghana but had relocated to Brazil.

After meeting Salim, Fatima left Sao Paulo for Accra on Thursday, April 5.

On arrival, she went through arrival formalities but walked out of the airport without claiming her luggage and rather called Salloum on phone to inform him that she had arrived safely.

Mr Akrasi-Sarpong said unknown to her, NACOB and its international partners had been monitoring her movements and as she waited outside the airport to be picked, she was arrested and taken to the Arrival Hall to claim her luggage.

He said after Fatima had picked her luggage and it was opened, the drug was found concealed under it, and during interrogation she broke down in tears and admitted the offence.

Mr Akrasi-Sarpong said Fatima who lived in Togo with her husband, an Indian relocated to Ghana where she became acquainted with Salim but after sometime lost contact with him.

However, after eight years, they re-united through the Internet and started the drug trade.

Mr Akrasi-Sarpong said the Criminal Investigations Department of Ghana Police Service, acting on a tip-off, arrested Salloum at a house at West Legon in Accra in December 2009.

A search in the house led to the discovery of six slabs of solid substances which were confirmed by analysts as cocaine.

Mr Akrasi-Sarpong said Salloum was put on trial at an Accra Circuit Court charged with possessing narcotic drug but the case went on until the end of 2010, after which Salloum was acquitted and discharged and thereafter, relocated to Dzorwulu.

GNA