The Member of Parliament for the North Tongu Constituency, Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has indicated that the NDC Caucus in Parliament is keenly following the government’s handling of the recent cocaine bust by Belgian authorities in Brussels.
According to the MP, the fact that complicit Ghana Airport operatives allowed Madam Proeger Delgey Bianca to outwit everyone at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) on March 23, 2024, caused grave international embarrassment to Ghana.
Furthermore, Hon. Ablakwa noted that a Convening Order, by Ghana Airports Company Limited, dated April 8, 2024, indicates that the investigative panel’s report should be ready by the close of today May 3, 2024, and must be submitted to the GACL MD, Mrs. Yvonne N.A. Opare.
“We share the same view with Ghana’s international partners who insist they would have had more confidence in an independent probe instead of a GACL internal inquiry, particularly when some key suspects are politically exposed persons currently holding positions in the NPP”.
Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
Moreover, the North Tongu MP stated that the government’s communication on this cocaine scandal has been an “unmitigated disaster”.
He stressed that the government would have been silent on the matter and not issued the press statement of April 10, 2024, confirming the arrest of smuggled 8.5 kilograms of cocaine from KIA in Belgium if the Herald newspaper report had not published the story.
As such, he indicated that there has been no update to the public and the international community even after the investigative panel indicated it does not believe it can meet today’s deadline.
He further noted that the expanded investigative panel from four to ten had raised additional concerns in diplomatic and security circles.
Accordingly, the MP noted that the re-composition of a larger panel now includes; Air Commodore Gervase Wienaa, Mr. Kodwo Egyir-Danso, Mr. Chief Teye Adjirackor, Capt. Budu Koomson (Rtd.), Mr. R.S. Tagoe, Mr. Kwaku Owusu Odame, Mr. Benjamin Ahlijah, Representative of PSWU, Representative of Divisional Union, and Representative of the Legal Department
Hon. Okudzeto Ablakwa further assured the public and Ghana’s international partners that the NDC Caucus in Parliament will do everything in its power to avoid a cover-up, especially as two major drug-related incidents last year involving private jets remain unresolved.
“We shall have a lot more to do on the apparent return of NPP cocaine scandals when Parliament resumes. For God and Country. Ghana First”. – Hon Okudzeto Ablakwa
KIA’s Involvement In The Smuggle
Meanwhile, it was reported that a female staff of the Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) division at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA), has since been arrested and locked up for helping in the smuggling of cocaine busted at the Brussels Airport in Belgium.
The development sheds light on the intricate web of complicity behind the illicit operation, involving officials of Ghana Airport Company Limited (GACL) and NACOC among others stationed at Kotoka International Airport, facilitating the trafficking of contraband goods.
It was revealed that the drug smuggler, Proeger Delgey Bianca, from Paramaribo in Suriname, a small country in South America, was found to have concealed the cocaine around her waist, ingeniously disguised as undergarments.
According to reports, she managed to evade security checks with the assistance of the NACOC staff member, who escorted her through the Central Screening Area without undergoing the necessary protocols.
Reports also noted that another staff of KIA, Eric Nartey Yeboah, who is a Cargo Security Manager helped in the drug smuggling operation by distracting some of the Aviation Security Personnel from paying attention to Proeger Delgey Bianca’s presence.
Meanwhile, a statement by the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) indicated it has interdicted all staff implicated in the recent cocaine smuggling incident at the Kotoka International Airport.
The management of GACL reiterated its warning to staff about assisting passengers at the airport, failing which punitive measures, not limited to but including summary dismissals and prosecutions by the State, will be effected in line with existing protocols.
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