Magdalene Sey
30 June 2008
Cape Coast — The Central Regional Police Command on Sunday arrested Samuel Mills Robertson, 49, who claimed to be a businessman for carrying 380 slabs of cocaine.
Briefing the press at the Regional Police Headquarters in Cape Coast, on Sunday, the Central Regional Police Commander, DCOP Rose Bio-Atinga, said about two weeks ago the Inspector General of Police, Mr Patrick Kwabena Acheampong, sent a directive that the police should resume their checks at the various checkpoints in the country.
DCOP Bio-Atinga, said the police was asked to be extra cautious of private cars, especially the four-wheel drives, indicating that those cars were normally used in transporting narcotics. She narrated that at 8am on the said Sunday, the Police Motor Transport Traffic Unit (MTTU) on patrol duties at Ataabadze junction, near Elmina, signaled a Toyota 4-Runner vehicle with registration number GR 1204 Y, traveling from Bogoso in the Western Region to Accra to stop.
She said just as the police were about to search the car, Robertson, who was driving the car in the company of two Nigerian nationals, whose names were given as Chukwu and Michael, told the police that they were carrying cocaine and will give the police US $5,000 if they allow them to drive through without any problem.
She said the eight policemen who were on duty at the time refused the offer and in the process Chukwu and Michael, sensing danger, fled into a nearby bush leaving Robertson behind. DCOP Bio-Atinga has therefore called on the general public to help the police in their official duties to be able to apprehend culprits in the society.
The second in command at the regional MTTU, ASP Frederick Kojo Asare Mensah, who led the team to arrest the suspect, also told the press that when checks were conducted on the vehicle, a secret compartment was found where the cocaine, packed in 19 travelling bags were hidden.
The suspect, Samuel Mills Robertson on his part said he was offered US$ 40,000 by the two Nigerians, Chukwu and Michael, to transport the cocaine from Bogoso to Accra, to their brother, one Moses, in Lagos. He said that was the first time he had involved himself in transporting cocaine and that the vehicle belonged to his brother, who is a contractor. He used the opportunity to advise people dealing in narcotics to stop the practice, indicating that it would destroy their lives as it had destroyed his.
The Police has intensified investigations into the case. As at the time of filing this report, four more people had been arrested in connection with the case for interrogation.
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