The United Kingdom court which jailed Nayele Ametefe, the Ghanaian/Austrian woman arrested and charged with attempting to smuggle cocaine into the UK revealed that the cocaine courier has dined and wined with past and present Ghanaian politicians.
Pronouncing, the eight years and eight months jail sentence to her by the London court yesterday, it stated that Ms Ametefe came into contact with powerful politicians in 2004 and continued to 2014.
The contact, Isleworth Crown Court in London said had really changed dramatically the life of 32-year-old woman who was arrested at Heathrow Airport in November last year with 12 kilograms (kg) of cocaine and was sentenced on her own plea by the court.
According to the court, she travelled extensively with influential people including the politicians as their companion.
In his submission for mitigation to the court, lawyer for Ms Ametefe admitted that Ms Ametefe had remained connected to powerful politicians who are currently in power in Ghana.
In his submission for mitigation to the court, lawyer for Ms Ametefe said she came from a poor home and married to a spare parts dealer at Abossey Okai, Ghana’s leading spare-parts hub.
She was forced by circumstances to engage in transporting drugs to support her newly attained high class lifestyle and to take care of her three children, the lawyer said. Ms Ametefe’s marriage broke down and she has been a single mother for years.
After listening to both prosecution and defence counsel, the court did not hesitate to convict the 32-year-old to eight years and eight months’ imprisonment.
The forensic analysis on the 12kg cocaine is pegged at 78% purity, with a current street value estimated at about 1.89 million Pounds.
But earlier, the prosecutors told the court that Ms Ametefe had $23,000 and an additional 6,000 Pounds in her handbag when she was arrested. The money, they said was meant to be payment for her courier services.
The amount is currently in the custody of the UK Border agency, but the court is expected to set a new date to rule on the exact amount of money she had on her.
The UK government will officially confiscate the said amount of money by July 6, 2015.
At the yesterday’s packed court sitting, pretty Ms Ametefe was well dressed and looked unsympathetic when the sentence was pronounced on her. But angry family member of the convicted drug courier, attacked some members of the press outside the court.
The UK prosecutors revealed that Ms Ametefe was carting the cocaine to South America, insisting that her travel itinerary showed that she was leaving the UK two days after her arrival, for the Dominican Republic. They therefore argued that the 12kg of cocaine was not meant to be consumed in the UK.
The Journey Of The Cocaine Saga
November 16, 2014: News broke of Nayele Ametefe arrest at London’s Heathrow airport in November for cocaine possession. The story which was first published by West African online alleged that Ms Ametefe had in her possession, a diplomatic passport.
November 17, 2014: But government denied claim that she was carrying a diplomatic passport when she was arrested.
November 17, 2014: Managing Director of Citi FM, Samuel Attah-Mensah whose online was the first to publish the story on citifmonline.com was invited for questioning by BNI. Also the editor of the Daily Graphic, Ransford Tetteh was invited by the same BNI for interrogations.
November 22, 2014: President John Mahama dissolves the governing board of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB).
November 23, 2014: Nine people arrested in connection with cocaine bust.
November 24, 2015: Director at Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abiel Ashitey Armah, arrested.
November 25, 2014: Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Hannah Tetteh reveals that Nayele thought she was carrying gold in her hand luggage rather than cocaine.
November 27, 2014: Nayele pleads guilty to all the charges leveled against her in a court in London.
November 30, 2014: Two female accomplices of Nayele were remanded in police custody by the Accra Circuit Court for allegedly conspiring with the suspect.
December 2, 2014: Alhaji Mohammed Alamid Dawood, was arrested for allegedly aiding Nayele Ametefe and her two friends to use the VIP lounge of the Kotoka International Airport(KIA) in Accra, to transport cocaine.
December 8, 2014: A Ghanaian Times Reporter, Edem Mensah was physically assaulted by family members and friends of Nayele’s accomplices in court.
January 6, 2015: Nayele Ametefe was sentenced to eight years and eight months jail term by the London court in UK.
African Eye News.com
