{"id":4802,"date":"2013-06-06T01:26:06","date_gmt":"2013-06-06T01:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disnaija.com\/nigeria-news\/heroin-ghana-airport-chief-2-nigerians-charged-in-us\/"},"modified":"2013-06-06T01:26:06","modified_gmt":"2013-06-06T01:26:06","slug":"heroin-ghana-airport-chief-2-nigerians-charged-in-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/heroin-ghana-airport-chief-2-nigerians-charged-in-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Heroin: Ghana Airport chief, 2 Nigerians charged in US"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The head of security at Ghana’s main international airport has been arrested in the United States on charges of heroin trafficking, in the latest sign of a growing narcotics trade in West Africa, statements obtained by AFP on Wednesday said.<\/p>\n

Solomon Adelaquaye, the head of a private firm contracted to run security at the Accra airport, was charged alongside his Colombian and two Nigerian co-conspirators, Ghana’s Narcotics Control Board and the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) said.<\/p>\n

In February 2012, Adelaquaye used his influence at the airport to guide a laptop packed with heroin through security in exchange for $ 10,000, (7,600 euros), according to the DEA.<\/p>\n

Then, last month, the group made new plans to move 3,000 kilograms of cocaine through Accra in 25-kilogram instalments. <\/p>\n

\"a <\/p>\n

a drug bust<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

All of their negotiations, held mainly in Accra, were caught on tape by undercover DEA agents, statements said.<\/p>\n

Adelaquaye, 48, and the two Nigerians — Frank Muodum, and Celestine Ofor Orjinweke — were arrested in New York on May 9, according to the DEA.<\/p>\n

It was not clear why they travelled to the US ahead of their arrest and the US embassy in Accra did not immediately respond to enquiries.
Samuel Antonio Pinedo-Rueda, 72, was arrested in Colombia on May 16 and is awaiting extradition, the DEA said.<\/p>\n

“Drug trafficking in West Africa has become a plague,” Derek Maltz, DEA special agent said in the June 3 statement.<\/p>\n

The agency identified Adelaquaye as the individual “who was responsible for security at the international airport in Ghana.”<\/p>\n

Ghana’s narcotics bureau said Adelaquaye was the managing director of a private firm called Sohin Security, which has security contracts at airports across the country.<\/p>\n

Those contracts have been “suspended with immediate effect,” the bureau said.<\/p>\n

Documents filed to a federal court in New York, where the group has been charged, said the heroin came from Afghanistan, which had been brought to Ghana by Pinedo-Rueda.<\/p>\n

Analysts say Ghana, a nation of some 25 million people, is an emerging trafficking hub for South American and Asian narcotics destined for sale in the US and Europe.<\/p>\n

Transportation infrastructure is advanced compared to other countries in West Africa, but corruption among customs and port officials remains rampant, according to analysts.<\/p>\n

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