Drug Peddlers Busted

TWO MEN, who loaded 34 maxi bags with substances suspected to be Indian hemp onto a Kia truck and attempted smuggling them into Kumasi, have been arrested. 

Thinking they could avoid being arrested, Kwame Poku, 33, driver in-charge of the truck, and Kwabena Ebo, alleged owner of the illicit drug, mixed the bags of 'wee' with 22 sacks of charcoal.

Acting swiftly upon a tip-off, the Kumasi Police last Sunday apprehended the suspects and intercepted the hard drug.
The suspects are currently in police custody and would be arraigned when their dockets are prepared.

Inspector Mohammed Yusif Tanko, Public Relations Officer at the Ashanti Regional Police Command, who confirmed the arrests, gave the registration number of the Kia truck used in the unsuccessful operation as AS 1146 Y.

He said a woman who was also onboard the vehicle with two sacks of charcoal was granted police inquiry bail because, according to him, the police had reason to believe that she was picked up on the road.

According to the Police PRO, before the security agents swung into action, information had reached them that the suspects were preparing to smuggle the drug from Sunyani into Kumasi.

Consequently, the police mounted surveillance on the Kumasi-Sunyani and Kumasi-Techiman roads until the truck was intercepted.

Inspector Tanko did not reveal where the suspects got the illegal stuff from, but told the paper that Ebo confessed to being the owner of the illegal stuff and that he stayed in the area for two weeks in order to get it prepared for transportation.

From James Quansah, Kumasi