Missing Cocaine: Investigate and Sack culpable Customs and NABCOB Officials – Veteran Journalist

Some officials of Customs Division of Ghana Revenue Authority
Veteran journalist, Wofa Yamoah Frimpong has called for the heads of the Customs Division of Ghana Revenue Authority and Narcotics Control Board following the missing of 100.10 grams whitish substances suspected to be cocaine.
According to the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), the substance, together with an undisclosed amount of money went missing between Friday and Sunday, 5 -7 June, 2020, while in the custody of the Customs Division at the Aflao Border Post before it was transported to the Headquarters of the Customs Division in Accra.
During a Morning Show newspaper review segment on Manhyia-based Opemsuo FM, Wofa Yamoah Frimpong bemoaned how the substance could go missing under the full surveillance of the two security agencies in Ghana.
“These are the people entrusted to protecting all criminal activities on our boarders but if they can’t do their work well, they must be investigated for their involvement in any criminal activities and be sacked or sanctioned if they are found culpable of any offense”, the Senior Citizen pointed out on the Nkwantananso show.
According to the Director-General of NACOB, Mr. Francis Torkornoo, his officers impounded a vehicle that had concealed the substances under its fuel tank on Friday, June 5.
“This is strange and unbelievable to hear this from people who we have entrusted our security into their hands”, Wofa Yamoah Frimpong lambasted while he also lauded the good works of some of the security personnel.
Background
The narcotics substances and US$200,000 cash in $100 and $50 notes was in a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado vehicle with a Nigerian registration number, LSR 815 FV, crossing into Ghana from Togo.
According to Torkornoo, some of the substances were allegedly detected missing on Sunday, June 7, 2020, when the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) invited all agencies at the border post to verify the exhibits the narcotics officers deposited in the custody of Customs on Friday, June 5.
The inspection was, however, to be done before the scheduled escort to the Headquarters of GRA in Accra.
Mr. Torkonoo indicated that the narcotics officers had protested that the substances per the Narcotics Control Commission Act were to be left in the custody of narcotics officers whilst investigations were being done but the Customs Officers ignored the advice and insisted they would keep the aforementioned items in their custody and later transport them to their Headquarters in Accra.
“The verification exercise revealed that, parcel (h), a 100.10g of whitish substances wrapped in transparent polythene, suspected to be cocaine, was missing,” he recounted.
Citing Section 72 of the Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 which also talks about seizure of currency, Francis Torkonoo said, NACOB has the “backing of the law to ask Customs to transfer the vehicle and all its contents to us for investigations to start in earnest, but since the seizure of the whitish substances suspected to be narcotics at the Kpoglu border on Friday June 5, 2020, we are yet to receive all the exhibits from the scene.”
Kwabena Danso-Dapaah/Opemsuo.com