Venezuelans jailed for drugs
2007-11-14 15:27
Accra - A Ghanaian high court has sentenced three Venezuelans, to terms of 20 and 25 years in prison in connection with the seizure of more than half-a-tonne of cocaine, say reports.
Joel Meija Duarte Moises, a 35-year-old machine operator, was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment with hard labour, while Italio Gervasio Rosero, 38, a businessman, got 20 years, said reports.
The two were arrested in the plush East Legon suburb of Accra in November 2005 after anti-drug enforcement officers discovered 588kg of cocaine concealed in the house they were occupying.
A third man, David Vasquez Gerado Duarte, described as the mastermind behind the drugs operation and who was still at large, was sentenced in absentia to a jail term of 25 years.
All three were found guilty of the unlawful importation and possession of narcotics.
The cocaine seized would have a current street value of about $30m in Europe and about half that in the United States.
The men's arrest, coupled with the disappearance in 2006 of a huge quantity of cocaine from a seized vessel at Tema harbour near Accra, had highlighted Ghana's ever greater prominence as a transit point for drugs sent from South America to Europe.
Top officials in Ghana had been accused of complicity in the drugs trade and of protecting drug lords.