Police Challenge cocaine report

Front Page: April 28, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Police Administration has said that the statement by the chairman of the Kojo Armah Committee to the effect that there had been non-coordination in the handling of the Prampram cocaine case was untrue.
It said the statement made by Mr Kojo Armah, the Chairman of the committee that investigated the missing cocaine at the Exhibits Store at the CID Headquarters, was unfounded and in bad taste.
The Director of Police Public Affairs, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Kwesi Ofori, told the Daily Graphic yesterday that the Police Administration had made available to the committee all appropriate documents, including correspondence in the handling of the case.
He said Chief Superintendent Alphonse Adu-Amankwah, then the Head of the erstwhile Organised Crime Unit (OCU), had also not been involved in the arrest and transportation of the exhibits from Prampram to the CID Headquarters.
He said although the Police Administration had not received a copy of the committee’s report, it felt it necessary to set the records straight regarding the preliminary comments Mr Armah made while presenting the report to the Interior Minister, Mr Kwamena Bartels, last Friday.
Showing correspondence, including police wireless messages, to this reporter, DSP Ofori said the 67 parcels of cocaine had been duly received on May 23, 2006 by DSP Patrick Akagbo, in the presence of Mr Adu-Amankwah, Detective Chief Inspectors P. Bediako, E. Y. Asong and B. B. Ananga, and Kenneth Ugah, the suspect in the case.
That, he explained, followed a wireless message signed by DSP Hubert K. Segoe, the former Administrator of the CID Headquarters, to the Tema Regional Police Commander on May 16, 2006 to submit all exhibits and documents to reach the OCU immediately.
DSP Ofori said after receiving the drugs, the CID administration decided to invite officials of the Ghana Standards Board (GSB) to examine the drugs on the sixth floor of the CID Headquarters on July 10, 2006 because the quantity of drugs was huge.
He said the drugs had been re-sealed with GSB seals.
He said after the test, Mr Adu-Amankwah sent a full report on the case to the then Director-General of the CID, Mr David Asante-Apeatu, on July 12, 2006.
Based on that report, the former Deputy Director-General of the CID, Mr Patrick Ampewuah, had written to the management of Scancom Ghana Limited to provide the itemised bills of some cell phone numbers. He also wrote to Ghana Post for the details of the owner of a post box.
DSP Ofori said the former Head of CID Operations, Mr Amadu Salifu, also wrote to the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) for details of the suspect in the case.
He said Interpol Ghana also wrote to the authorities to verify the genuineness of the $10,000 seized at the time of the arrest of the suspects and the drugs.
He said the response from the US authorities indicated that $6,100 of the bills were counterfeit.
DSP Ofori said there was also correspondence from the CID Headquarters, signed by ACP George Appiah, on August 17, 2006 to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) for the details of the owners of two vehicles, with registration numbers GR 1742 X and GR 6845 X.
The Public Affairs Director said the CID administration, on August 21, 2006, again wrote to the Registrar-General’s Department seeking information on the owners of three companies which had come up during the investigations.
“All these correspondence were duly signed on behalf of the former Head of the CID Administration, Mr Asante-Apeatu. In fact, on October 13, 2006, he personally signed a similar letter to the GIS for the details of Joseph Nwabueze,” he added.
DSP Ofori said after receiving the sub-reports from their various units, Mr Adu-Amankwah forwarded a comprehensive report on the case to the Director-General, CID, on May 29, 2007.
He said based on that letter, the Head of the Central Crime Research and Operations Unit, ACP I. J. T. O. Terkpertey, who was Chief Superintendent at the time, forwarded the case docket to the Attorney-General’s Department on June 6, 2007.
According to him, the second in command at the OCU, ASP Hope Nyadi, on June 12, 2007 wrote to the international partners, forwarding the contact numbers of those found to have been involved in the case to be entered in the Narcotics Control database.
“For Mr Armah to say that there had been lack of co-ordination is neither here nor there. From what I have shown you, you can see that all the specialised units were involved,” he added.
DSP Ofori explained that the CID was the technical wing of the Ghana Police Service and that its operations did not fall under the direct control of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP).
He said as was the case with all schedule officers, the CID boss also briefed the IGP on the activities of the CID.
He stated that it was also not the IGP who appointed Mr Adu-Amankwah to head the Drug Law Enforcement Unit (DLEU), which was later re-organised into the OCU.
DSP Ofori said it was the management of the CID, by its internal memo signed by Mr Asante-Apeatu on September 13, 2005, that appointed Mr Adu-Amankwah, a pharmacist, as head of the DLEU, among other changes.
He said the IGP was also not responsible for the appointment of storekeepers of the Exhibit Stores, as all regional, divisional, district and station commanders were responsible for appointing such persons.
He said looking at the correspondence and evidence available, the CID did its best in any scientific investigation that might be required in such a case.
DSP Ofori said the Police Administration would respond appropriately to the committee’s work when it received and studied its report.
The committee submitted its report to Mr Bartels last Friday and recommended the prosecution of DSP Akagbo.
It said although the committee could not pinpoint any single person or group of persons who had substituted the cocaine, DSP Akagbo, who kept the keys to the store, should be held responsible for dereliction of duty.
It also recommended further investigations into the conduct of Chief Supt Adu-Amankwah, the former Head of the erstwhile OCU.
Giving highlights of the committee’s report, Mr Armah had said personality clashes between Chief Supt Adu-Amankwah and Mr Asante-Apeatu, at one level, and between Mr Asante-Apeatu and the IGP at another level, affected the management of the CID headquarters, resulting in non-coordination of issues there.
According to the chairman, that had made Chief Supt Adu-Amankwah do “his own thing” as Head of the OCU.