Ghanaian drug baron to be extradicted

Robert Yaw Danquah, the 54-year-old Ghanaian drug baron who, together with three Venezuelan accomplices, imported two tonnes of cocaine valued at $400 million into The Gambia is to be extradited from Ghana today to stand trial in The Gambia.

Danquah was arrested by The Gambian police on June 12, 2010, together with his three accomplices, but he escaped from police custody and took refuge in Ghana, while his accomplices were tried and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment in The Gambia.

On December 17, 2011, an international warrant was issued by a Banjul magistrate court for his arrest, a copy of which was circulated to all Interpol partners.

The Executive Secretary of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), Mr Yaw Akrasi Sarpong, who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic in Accra Sunday, said following intelligence information, a combined team of NACOB officials and the police arrested Danquah at his

residence at Nungua on February 6, 2012.
On his arrest, he was found to be in possession of both Canadian and Ghanaian passports.

He said following the arrest, Danquah was put before the Osu Magistrate Court on extradition charges, as requested by The Gambian authorities.

Mr Sarpong said on March 27, 2012, the court ruled that Danquah should be extradited to face trial in The Gambia and the warrant for his extradition was subsequently signed by the Minister of the Interior.

He said investigations conducted by the security agencies revealed that the fugitive had travelled widely across the world, visiting countries such as the UK, France, Belgium, Benin, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Jamaica, the UAE, Sierra Leone, Togo, The Gambia, Senegal, Mali, Cote d'Ivoire and Liberia.

The February 8, 2012 issue of the Daily Graphic carried the story about the arrest of the Ghanaian drug baron who connived with three foreigners to import more than two tonnes of cocaine into The Gambia.