Exopa CEO in Nsawam Prisons

By George Kyei Frimpong - Ghanaian Chronicle

The Chief Executive of Exopa Model Agency, Mr. Ibrahim Sima, was yesterday remanded into prison custody by an Accra Fast Track Court, for attempting to smuggle cocaine to Europe. He will re-appear before the court on Thursday September 23, this year. The plea by Mr. Kwame Akuffo, Counsel for the suspect, to remand his client into police custody at the Cantonments Police Station, instead of the Nsawam Medium Security Prisons, was turned down by the court. Justice Charles Quist again refused the plea of the counsel that the confiscated Range Rover Vehicle of Mr. Sima should be released by the police. Mr. Sima has pleaded not guilty to two counts of attempting to export narcotic drugs and unlawful possession of narcotic drugs. According to prosecution, in the course of interrogation after his arrest, Mr. Sima informed the officials of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) who interrogated him that the tubers of yam were given to him by one Salifu, who resides in Nima, to be delivered to a friend in Germany, for a fee of 3000 Euros. However, during a search by NACOB officials at his residence, a bread knife and a bottle of glue were found, inferring that they were used to conceal the cocaine in the tubers of yam. The Prosecution further told the court that Mr. Sima conceded that the glue and the knife were used for the 'operation.' Mr. Akuffo prayed the court to disregard the investigation and interrogation by the NACOB officials, since they were done in the absence of the suspect's counsel. Mr. Sima was arrested on September 7, this year, at the Kotoka International Airport, while going through departure formalities to board a Lufthansa flight to Germany.