Three American Drug suspects picked at KIA

Page 3: Daily Graphic, September 10, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THREE Americans were yesterday arrested at the Kotoka International Airport on suspicion of drug trafficking.
Two of the them, Abena Serwaah, 19, and Shadrack Ntiamoah Bamfo, 23, are of Ghanaian parentage while the third, Joanne Gabriel, 21, is an African-American.
Besides concealing the suspected drugs in the three pairs of snickers they wore, Abena and Joanne had stuffed their private parts with four large lump-size of the drugs. Joanne alone carried three of the four lump-size drugs in her private parts. Also found on Abena Serwaa was a talisman believed to have been secured to protect them against arrest.
For his part, Shadrack also concealed 19 pellets of the suspected drugs in his underwear.
They were arrested while going through departure formalities to travel to New York.
The three suspects had arrived in Ghana on September 2, this year, on the sponsorship of someone identified only as Alhaji Saibu.
The suspects were allegedly sent to Ghana by the boyfriend of Abena Serwaah, whom they identified as Abubakari Issaka, who is based in Bronx, New York.
Interestingly, Abu, as the suspects called him, was also the former boyfriend of Joanne.
Confirming the arrests to the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday, the acting Executive Secretary of the Narcotics Control Board, Mr Yaw Akrasi-Sarpong, said Abena and his boyfriend, Abu, had earlier visited Ghana in May this year.
He said information gathered by NACOB indicated that Abena and Shadrack knew they were coming to Ghana for the drugs.
Joanne, he said, was, however, convinced by Alhaji Saibu and one Black Sunday while in Ghana to carry the drugs along.
Mr Akrasi-Sarpong said efforts were underway to apprehend Alhaji Saibu and another gentleman whom the suspects identified as Black Sunday.
He explained that Alhaji Saibu and Black Sunday met the suspects on arrival, booked the hotel for them and also provided them with the drugs.