Foreign traffickers get 20-year jail terms after cocaine seizure

Five foreigners and a Ghanaian were sentenced to 20 years in jail with hard labour on Monday for their part in smuggling nearly 600 kg of cocaine into Ghana for onward shipment to Europe. The High Court in Accra found all six men guilty of conspiracy and possessing narcotic drugs without lawful authority. The gang comprised three Britons, an American, a German and a Ghanaian car dealer. They were arrested after police discovered 588.33 kg of cocaine in the port city of Tema in Ghana's biggest ever drugs bust last January. Those convicted were Kevin Gorman, a 59-year-old American, Britons John David Logan, 43, Frank Lavelrick 43, and Alan Hodson, 45, German Sven Herb,45, and Ghanaian Ibrahim Kamil. The three Britons were additionally convicted for importing the drugs without licence and Gorman was found guilty of using his property for narcotic offences. "I find all six to be leaders and distributors of narcotics. I am giving out this stiff sentence to serve as a deterrent to others," Judge Francis Kusi Appiah told a packed court. He confiscated more than US$300,000 of foreign currency found in the possession of the accused, along with Gorman's house, where the drugs were discovered in a secret compartment, and a vehicle used to transport the cocaine from the nearby beach where it was brought ashore. Defence lawyers said they would appeal against the long prison sentences imposed, saying they were too harsh. Ghanaian law stipulates a minimum jail term of 10 years for the offences committed. The court heard evidence that the defendants conspired to land the cocaine by canoe at Prampram, a beach resort about 20 km west of Tema harbour, on 30 December last year. The sealed packages of cocaine were then repackaged and transported to Tema, prior to a planned final shipment to the United Kingdom. The actual origin of the drugs was not stated, but they are believed to have come from South America. Gorman, Logan and Lavelrick had all travelled to Venezuela and Brazil, where they were believed to have procured the cocaine, before arriving in Ghana in December 2003. Ghanaian narcotics officials said earlier this year they believed that the drugs had been dropped into offshore waters by an aircraft and had then been picked up by fishing boats. Court officials said the separate trial of a seventh man, the owner of the seaside lodge at Prampram, where the drugs were brought ashore, was expected to start shortly.