Four accused in cocaine smuggling case granted GH¢52m bail

An Accra Circuit Court has given bail to four individuals accused of trying to export narcotic drugs. The accused, Gariba Soli, Josiah Biney, Emmanuel Minta, and Kwabena Ampofo Anti, were each given bail in the sum of GH¢13 million, with four security providers, three of whom must be justified.

The bail was given by Sedinam Awo Kwadam, the presiding judge, after a bail application by lawyers for the accused. As part of the bail conditions, one of the security providers must support with evidence of a landed property valued at GH¢1 million, while two others must be civil servants earning not less than GH¢5,000 per month.

The four accused persons have declined to admit guilt to charges including attempted exportation of narcotic drugs without a licence, collaborative crime planning, possession of narcotic drugs without lawful authority, and additional conspiracy allegations.

As per the prosecution, on Wednesday, April 23, 2025, authorised officers at the Export Section of the Swissport Cargo Terminal carried out a standard inspection of outbound cargo destined for Brussels, Belgium. During the process, the officers discovered three packages, packed in wooden boxes, suspected of hiding narcotic substances and en route to the Netherlands.

An initial review of the items revealed assorted wooden artefacts, with no incriminating items. After unpacking and scanning the boxes, the scanned images revealed hidden compartments. These compartments were taken apart and were discovered to have a total of 73 compressed slabs of a suspected narcotic substance.

When opened, a sample slab showed a whitish powdery substance, which later confirmed positive for cocaine. All four suspects were detained and taken to the headquarters of the Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) for deeper investigation.

During an early investigation, the suspects claimed no knowledge of concealed drugs. However, under interrogation, Soli, identified as the shipper of the identified suspicious packages, stated that he had been engaged by an individual named Patrick to export the artefacts to the Netherlands on his behalf.

Gariba Soli stated that, since January 2025, he had been working with a representative of Patrick in Ghana, known only as Onik and Imex. He revealed that the three wooden boxes were delivered to him by Onik at the premises of the Art Exhibition Centre. Gariba Soli further stated that he, together with his colleagues, had loaded the empty boxes with assorted wooden artefacts, sealed them with nails, and sent them to Swissport.

He again said that the package was with the shipping agents, Ansahdys Shipping & Logistics, until he was asked to observe the inspection of the cargo, whereafter he was arrested. The suspected narcotic substances will be taken to the Ghana Standards Authority for quality testing and analytical reporting.