| Source: www.graphicghana.com Eight officials of the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) and two policemen alleged to have been involved in the smuggling of cocoa at Ghana’s western frontier have beeny remanded in custody after making their maiden appearance before the Accra Circuit Court. They are Gabriel Dimado, Collection Assistant Grade 1; William Festus Yawson, Collection Assistant Grade II; Steven Quaye Sowah, Junior Collection Assistant; Prosper Edze, Junior Collection Assistant; Adolf Nii Armah, Junior Collection Assistant, and James Dzamesi, Junior Collection Assistant Grade III, all of CEPS. The rest are Rockson Eric Appeadu and Paul Dzamesi, both Junior Collection Assistant Grade III, also of CEPS, as well as Isaac Kwaku Asare Darko and Samuel Kwasi Ekpeagba, both constables in the Ghana Police Service. They pleaded not guilty to a charge of abetment of crime, contrary to Section 20(1) of the Criminal Code 1960, Act 29 yesterday. They will appear again on April 28, this year. Earlier, Mr Raymond Batanabe, one of the counsels for the accused persons, challenged the jurisdiction of the court to try the case. He said the alleged abetment occurred in the Western Region and, therefore, a court in Accra could not try the case. He quoted Section 46 of the code on criminal procedure which states that a person needed to be tried in the jurisdiction where he committed a crime. But the court, presided over by Mrs Patience Mills-Tetteh, held that under that same code, there were exceptions. She said the same code stated that if it was unclear where the crime was committed, any court could try the case. She said with regard to the case before the court, it had been stated that it occurred on the Ghana-Cote d’Ivoire border, saying that since it was not clear whether it was committed in Ghana or Cote d’Ivoire, the court had authority to entertain it. The prosecutor, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) P. K. Frimpong, told the court that an investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, conducted investigations into the activities of security officials at the frontier between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire and found that some of them had been compromised by people who smuggled dry cocoa beans from Ghana to Cote d’Ivoire. He said the accused persons, according to the investigations conducted by the journalist, received various sums of money from cocoa beans smugglers and assisted them to carry the beans across. DSP Frimpong said the journalist secretly captured the nefarious activities of the accused on video and referred it to the police for investigations. He told the court that investigations into the case were ongoing and, therefore, the necessity for the court to remand the accused in custody. The highly publicised documentary, aired on some television stations in the country, was also submitted to the President
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