Police CID, NACOB Petition CJ Over "Washing Soda Cocaine"

The Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service and the Narcotics Control Board have all petitioned the Chief Justice, Georgina Wood, to investigate the conduct of an Accra Circuit Court and its trial judge Eric Kyei Baffour over the disappearance of 1,020 grams of cocaine exhibits which were kept in the custody of the court. The three law enforcement agencies are baffled by how the cocaine exhibit tendered in evidence to the court got swapped with washing soda leading to the discharge of the accused person Nana Ama Martin, who had been standing trial since 2008 for possessing narcotics. The Director General of the CID, DCOP Prosper Kwame Agblor, told journalists at an emergency press conference on Wednesday that the police suspect foul play on the part of the court and the trial judge and have therefore appealed to the Chief Justice to delve into the matter. �The police administration has petitioned the Chief Justice to also institute an inquiry into the matter. Meanwhile the police have also begun investigations,� he said. Also at the press conference was the Executive Secretary of the Narcotics Control Board, Mr Akrasi Sarpong, who strongly reproached the trial judge and the court for disappearance of the cocaine exhibit. �Anybody in the court who is found culpable must be dealt with in the same manner that the they expect the police officer to be dealt with. Why would anybody jump bail for a crime," he queried. "The comment of the judge was completely unnecessary. The judge ought to have known that once the exhibit was placed in court custody, it is his custody and the evidence is very clear. � Earlier on the Vice President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, ordered the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to set up a team to thoroughly investigate how substances confirmed to be cocaine could have turned into sodium carbonate (commonly known as washing soda).