Court grants GH¢13m bail to 4 in KIA cocaine case

An Accra circuit court has granted bail of GH¢13 million. This is for four people accused of trying to transport suspected cocaine. They were arrested at Kotoka International Airport’s Swissport cargo terminal.

Each of the four must have four sureties. All sureties must be civil servants earning at least GH¢5,000 monthly. One surety must own property worth at least GH¢1 million.

The accused are Gariba Soli, Josiah Biney, Emmanuel Minta, and Kwabena Ampofo Anti. They face charges of conspiracy and possession of narcotic drugs without lawful authority.

Judge Sedinam Awo Kwadam ordered the Narcotics Control Commission to collect their biodata. The commission must submit this information to passport offices nationwide. The suspects are prohibited from acquiring passports.

The court also barred them from leaving the country without approval. Those with passports must surrender them to the court registrar. They have been placed on a stop list at all exit points.

Additionally, they must report to the Narcotics Control Commission twice a week. The case is adjourned until June 18, 2025.

Soli is an artefact dealer in Accra. Biney, Minta, and Ampofo Anti work as freight forwarders at Ansahdys Shipping and Logistics. They were arrested after a narcotics bust on April 23, 2025.

Officers intercepted three wooden boxes at Swissport Cargo Terminal’s export section. These boxes were bound for Brussels and suspected of hiding narcotics.

Initially, the boxes contained assorted wooden artefacts with no incriminating items. However, scans revealed false compartments holding 73 compressed slabs of suspected narcotics.

One sampled slab tested positive for cocaine. All four suspects were taken to NACOC Headquarters for investigation.

During questioning, they denied knowledge of the drugs. Soli claimed he was hired by someone named Patrick to export artefacts to the Netherlands.

He stated he worked with Patrick’s Ghana-based representatives since January 2025. Soli said Onik delivered the three wooden boxes to him at the Art Exhibition Centre.

He and his colleagues loaded these boxes with wooden artefacts before sealing them with nails. They sent them to Swissport on April 14, 2025.

The packages remained with shipping agents until he was invited for examination and subsequently arrested. The drug exhibit will be sent to the Ghana Standards Authority for testing and reporting.