2 teens swallow cocaine, held
2007-11-06 07:23
Accra - Two Lithuanian teenage boys on their way back to London after a West African holiday were arrested at Ghana's airport for cocaine possession, said officials on Monday.
A Ghanaian drug control officer said the two, a 16-year-old student and a 19-year-old labourer who both lived in London, had swallowed dozens of cocaine pellets before attempting to board a plane on Saturday.
The officer spoke on condition on anonymity because the information was not yet officially released. Two British teenage girls were on trial in Ghana on similar charges.
They were arrested in July for allegedly trying to smuggle nearly six kilograms of cocaine home to England in computer after a vacation in Ghana. Their next hearing is on November 21 and they face 10-year jail terms if convicted.
West Africa was increasingly becoming a transit point for drugs headed to Europe. Cocaine, mostly from Colombia, was brought on small planes and dropped on islands off the coast, then distributed to couriers who carried it into Europe.
The officer said Ghanaian police were also pursuing a Ghanaian suspected of giving the Lithuanian teens the drugs to swallow. The boys were at a hospital on Monday, where they had so far expelled 53 pellets of cocaine, according to the official.
- AP