Teen 'smugglers' plead guilty

2007-07-27 14:14

Accra - Two British teenage girls arrested in Ghana for cocaine possession have pleaded guilty, says an anti-drugs officer close to the case.

The 16-year-olds appeared before a juvenile court on Thursday and were formally charged. Their case was later adjourned to August 02, said the officer.

The girls, who left the court with their faces covered to avoid photographers outside, both faced up to three years in jail.

An official from the British High Commission, Gary Nicholas, said: "All I can say is that the charges were formalised."

The girls were discovered with $610 000 worth of cocaine at Accra Airport on July 02 during a joint Ghanaian-British narcotics operation, said British officials.

Ghanaian man pays for girls' trip

They had been due to board a British Airways flight to London and were allegedly in possession of 6.5kg of cocaine.

Officials in Accra had said the girls claimed a Ghanaian in Britain named Jay paid for their airfare and told them to meet two people at the airport.

Mark Ewuntomah of Ghana's Narcotics Control Board said last week that Jay promised them $3 000 each to bring him two laptop bags. He said the cocaine was found hidden in false compartments in the bags.

One of the girls, whose names had not been released, previously said that they were set up by "two boys over here who gave us two bags" to deliver to another male at the airport in London.

She said: "It was basically like a set up. They didn't tell us nothing, we didn't think nothing ... basically we are innocent. We don't know nothing about this drugs and stuff, we don't know nothing."

Police were still looking for two other people wanted in connection with the drugs haul.

- AFP