Kotoka Security Boss…Grabbed With Cocaine

Solomon Adelaquaye, Managing Director of Sohin Security Company, who is believed to be a close pal of the National Security Coordinator, Lt. Col. Larry Gbevlo Lartey, has been busted over cocaine in the United States of America as part of a drug trafficking syndicate.
The drug dealer is an alleged financier of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).
The late President Mills was reported in Wikileaks telling United States diplomats that he suspected his officials had been compromised by tipping off drug barons.
Adelaquaye’s security firm had until last Monday, provided security services at the Kotoka International Airport and other airports under a controversial contract approved by the Ghana Airport Company Limited (GACL).
Now the company has been disbanded without explanation until officials were forced to come out with the information after Daily Guide broke the story about the drug dealings by the Sohin boss.
The drug-baron turned security chief was reported to have been arrested together with two Nigerians and Colombian in May for his role in a drug trafficking syndicate which had been operating in the West Africa sub-region, according to an official statement released on June 3.
Sources said political godfathers including Gbevlo Lartey facilitated the selection of Sohin Security for its services at the airports. Hitherto, the company had no practical experience in handling security issues before it was granted the contract at the airports.
Questions are now being asked as to how a company, headed by a drug baron, passed through the scrutiny of the the national security led by Col. Gbevlo-Lartey and won the bid to provide security services at an entry point such as the Kotoka International Airport and other airports in the country.
The appointment of Sohin Security followed a decision by the GACL to terminate contracts of two private security companies that had been operating at the airport for about three years.
It would be recalled that in February 2009, Col. Gbevlo-Lartey issued a directive asking the various state institutions operating atthe airports not to renew contracts they had with the various security companies operating there.
Eventhough these companies had managed to maintain sanity at Ghana’s main entry point which was once bedeviled with serious pilfering, the National Security Co-ordinator reportedly exerted pressure on GACL to terminate the contracts of the companies without reason.
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NACOB Operatives
The termination of the contracts paved the way for Sohin Security to provide security services at the nation’s airports.
A statement issued by the Executive Secretary of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), Yaw Akrasi Sarpong, indicated that the Sohin Security boss and members of his syndicate were busted as a result of the collaboration between the Board and the Drugs Enforcement Administration (DEA) of the Department of Justice of the United States of America.
‘The co-operation between the Drugs Enforcement Administration (DEA) of the Department of Justice of the United States of America and the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) has led to the busting of another international drug trafficking, which had been operating within the West African sub-region and the USA,’ the statement indicated.
NACOB operatives have also been caught hobnobbing with drug lords.
Government on Monday issued a statement announcing that Sohin Security Limited had been sacked from handling security services at various airports in the country.
The statement signed by the Information and Media Relations Minister, Mahama Ayariga, said, ‘Government has directed the Ghana Airport Company Limited (GACL) to suspend, with immediate effect, the contract with Sohin Security Company, providers of security services at the various airports in the country.’
The statement indicated that the suspension was in response to ongoing investigations by the security agencies into the activities of the company and its management.
Even though government did not disclose details on issues being investigated DAILY GUIDE reported that the investigations were narcotic drugs-related. Checks at the government sources drew blank response prompting the government to clear the air to avoid further embarrassment.
Just recently a certain Mustapha Issaka Zico, 41, of Nima, who is said to be a member of the drug gang, was sentenced to 216 months (18 years) in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for conspiring to import heroin from Ghana into the United States.
He was also ordered to forfeit $110,000.
According to the indictment and evidence at the three-day trial, Zico and his co-conspirators paid off officials at Kotoka International Airport (KIA) who facilitated the safe passage of the heroin. Zico was directly involved in several heroin shipments and directed the activities of previously convicted conspirators such as Edmund Darkwah, Fred Brobbey, and Matilda Antwi, all of whom pleaded guilty to charges in the Eastern District of Virginia.
Zico shared leadership of the conspiracy with Edward Macauley, who was earlier convicted in the Eastern District of Virginia and sentenced to 168 months’ imprisonment.
Their arrest and subsequent conviction was due to a collaboration between NACOB and DEA of America.
 
Source: Daily Guide/Ghana