TSIBU DARKO IN TROUBLE
•As Ship Catches Fire
Prince Tsibu Darko, a suspected drug peddler and owner of plush Koreana Hotel at Tema and another at Akosombo, might not be out of the woods yet even after being let out of a prison cooler.
No sooner had he been released than one of his expatriate-captained vessels caught fire under mysterious circumstances as it berthed at the Fishing Harbour at Tema last Sunday.
According to information reaching , the completely destroyed vessel, MV Bellesol I, started emitting smoke, a situation which caught the attention of two Ghanaian watchmen.
The vessel had been berthed at the place since it arrived on 6th December 2006.
The watchmen, Tetteh Awertey and Stephen Damashie who were onboard the vessel at the time the smoke was detected, called in personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service, who tried abortively to extinguish the fire.
They therefore looked on helplessly as the inferno consumed the vessel.
Personnel of Ghana Port and Harbours Authority (GHAPOHA), fearing that the inferno could sweep to other vessels, tugged it to a place near Tema New Town called, “the beach”, where it exploded.
The Tema Fishing Harbour Police who handled the initial investigation, handed the case over to the Greater Accra Regional Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the police for further probes into circumstances leading to the fire outbreak aboard the vessel.
The ship was said to have remained berthed at the harbour since December 6th because of plummeting fortunes.
Salaries had not been paid for a while and the mandatory routine maintenance on ships after each voyage had not been carried out on Prince Tsibu's vessels.
No wonder the Korean captain of the burnt vessel, Kang Seone Un, abandoned his post after berthing. His position according to our source, was taken over by his Korean Chief Engineer, Lim Jung Ok.
The first engineer aboard the destroyed vessel had been named as Ling Yin Nan, a Chinese.
The suspected drug trafficker's legal counsels fought a spirited legal battle to secure a bail for their client.
They took his request for bail from an Accra Circuit Court to a High Court where the lead counsel, Gabriel Pwamang stated that it was evident the prosecution was not keen on starting the trial.
The counsel's position was based on the premise that for over three months, the prosecution had been asking for more time to investigate the case.
The counsel argued that it was wrong to arrest the accused person before fishing for evidence to prosecute him.
Prince Tsibu Darko, a native of Dunkwa-On-Offin, was said to be very wealthy.
He claimed to have bought the Koreana Hotel at Tema from some Korean nationals for an amount of $250,000, which he settled in installments.
He was represented by Gabriel Pwamang and Charles Puozuing.
Prince Darko's arrest was effected at a time the police were battling with high profile narcotic cases.
He was arrested during the major offensive undertaken by the police on suspected drug barons in the country.
By A.R. Gomda