No Bail •For Cocaine Girls
The Greater Accra Regional Tribunal has referred the case of the two British girls, who were nabbed at the Kotoka International Airport for allegedly attempting to export cocaine weighing 6.5kg and valued at $600,000, to a Juvenile Court.
The accused persons, Vantansever Yasemin Cengiz, 16, and Yetunde Ibukunoluwapo Diya, 16, are still facing two provisional charges of attempted exportation and possession of narcotic drug without lawful authority. A third girl, Rotariu Florina, who gave her age as 18 at the time of their arrest has been found to be 21 and will be tried at the Regional Tribunal.
Vantansever and Yetunde allegedly wanted to export the substance to London, and Rotariu to Amsterdam. The Tribunal had earlier doubted the ages of the two accused persons as well, but DAILY GUIDE learnt that after a sitting last Friday, the court established that they were truly 16, hence the transfer of the case to a minor court.
The case at the Juvenile Court was heard in camera by a three-member panel which included a social worker.
Briefing the media about what transpired in the court, the Political and Press Officer of the British High Commission, Mr. Gary Nicholls said the young girls had been remanded to reappear on July 27, 2007.
He said that Mrs. Evelyn Keelson, the State Attorney handling the case, informed the court that the police were still investigating the matter and therefore would need a week to complete their investigations and subsequently start with the trial.
He noted that after the prosecution had completed their investigations, they would then start the trial where the juveniles' formal plea would be taken.
Today's trial saw a host of British media personnel and people from all walks of life who thronged the court as early as 7 am to see the girls and also take snap shots for their reportage.
However, they were disappointed as the security officers who brought the girls covered their faces and prevented both the media and the public from taking photographs of them.
The fact that the case was heard in camera also made it difficult for even the journalists to get access to information in the court.
The paparazzi took strategic positions at the precincts of the court, waiting anxiously to take shots after the trial which lasted for about 45 minutes, but they were outsmarted by the security officials who, with the accused persons, slipped through the back door of the court room unnoticed.
However, some newsmen aggressively managed to take pictures of the covered faces of the girls in the vehicle which brought them to court.
The trial of the teenage girls generated a lot of controversies in the U.K, especially when an uncle of Yasmin alleged on ITV News in UK that the girls had apparently had all their clothes taken away from them and that all they had was the set of clothes in which they had been arrested.
He claimed that the children were not being given proper food and were fed on water and biscuits.
He also asserted that they were being held in custody with adults and other criminals.
However, officials from Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) have denied these allegations.
It would be recalled that Yetunde and Vantansever, both Britons residing in London, on July 2, 2007 at about 8:30pm were arrested while they were going through departure formalities at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) to board a British Airways flight to London.
Personnel of NACOB on duty at the airport, suspecting them of carrying narcotics, searched their laptop bags and discovered four parcels of whitish powdery substance suspected to be cocaine, and when a field test was conducted in their presence, the result proved positive for cocaine.
During interrogation, the suspects admitted ownership of the bags and the substance but stated in their cautioned statements that a certain Farham Timothy, alias Fire, sent them to Ghana to meet two men, Kwame and Emmanuel for the laptop bags containing the stuff, and bring them to him in London for a fee of £6,000.
Security sources say Kwame and Emmanuel have been invited for interrogation while the suspected narcotic drug has been sent to the Ghana Standard Board for further analysis.
Meanwhile, in a press statement issued yesterday and signed by Mr. Daniel A. Amankwaah on behalf of the Executive Secretary, NACOB said it was mindful of the legal processes to be pursued, as the issue pertained to minors.
It assured the media that NACOB and the Attorney General's office were going through due process in consultation with the appointed legal counsels of the girls and the British High Commission.
NACOB said it was determined to ensure that the security of the girls was not compromised while the legal process continued and asked for the cooperation of the media.