Police nab woman drug peddler after five-year hunt

A 31-year-old woman whom the police describe as 'notorious and elusive' narcotic peddler has been arrested after five years of search for her.

Maurice Moses, a Nigerian, who claims to be a trader at the Agbogbloshie market, moves around the Kwame Nkrumah Circle and the Neoplan Station, in Accra in the evenings, selling the drugs to gangsters.

Attempts by the police at the Neoplan Station to arrest her proved futile as she always outwitted them and re-located for some days before re-surfacing to deal in the nefarious activities.

Luck, however, eluded her on May 4, after five years of being on the police wanted list and was grabbed when she was on her usual rounds.

Briefing the Ghanaian Times here, detective police Alex Okyere said that at about 6:30pm on May 4, police officers were detailed to the Neoplan Police Station to keep surveillance at the two areas and arrest the suspect.

They met a friend who decided to accompany them to effect the suspect's arrest.

They spotted Maurice near the Obra Spot at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle holding a brown hand bag, and as the friend shouted her name, she turned around to look at the person calling her.

Realising that her friend was with the police, she took to her heels but was given a hot chase and apprehended.

A search of her bag revealed large quantities of dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp, a pair of scissors, two lighters, a quantity of king-size wrappers and pieces of brown rappers. She admitted ownership of the items during interrogation.