NACOC says checks found no evidence a cocaine suspect is a presidential escort

Pinned summary · as of 16:37

The Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) says its early background checks on suspects it holds over a cocaine seizure in France have not shown that any of them guards the President. The commission was responding to New Tafo MP Vincent Ekow Assafuah, who claimed in a Facebook post on Friday, 18 September, that one suspect was attached to the teams protecting President John Dramani Mahama and his deputy.

What we know

• According to NACOC, its early checks turned up nothing to show that a suspect it is holding in the France cocaine case serves as an escort to the President.
• Vincent Ekow Assafuah, the MP for New Tafo, made his claim in a Facebook post on Friday, 18 September, and asked how someone tied to presidential security could be caught up in a trafficking case of that scale.
• Alexander Twum-Barimah, NACOC's Deputy Director-General, spoke on TV3 on Sunday, 20 September. He said the commission had looked into everyone it holds: “We have checked all the people that we have in custody, their backgrounds are known to us.”
• Mr Twum-Barimah said NACOC cannot independently verify the MP's claim without more information about the alleged security role of the suspect.
• Mr Twum-Barimah rejected the idea that a single officer could act as a close escort to both leaders at once. “You must be at one wing, and each wing you have enough numbers to run,” he said.

What's disputed / unconfirmed

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  Mr Assafuah alleged that one of the suspects, Musah Atta, was part of the President's and Vice President's security detail. NACOC has not established this, and its deputy head said the commission's checks do not support it.
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  Nkonkonsa reported that French customs officers took nearly 3.9 tonnes of cocaine out of a container that had been shipped from Ghana. No other report has confirmed the quantity.
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  Onua Online put the value of the seizure in France at €225 million. This figure has not been confirmed by other reports.

Why it matters for Ghana

Claims linking presidential security personnel to a cocaine case touch public confidence in both the institutions that guard the head of state and the agencies that fight drug trafficking. NACOC says it cannot check the allegation without more detail from those making it, so what happens next depends partly on whether the MP supplies particulars.