Three persons suspected to be Ghanaians have been arrested in Britain for being part of a 13-member drug syndicate that smuggled £32 million (GH¢203,001,958.59) worth of cocaine and cannabis into the country.

The three, Felicia Kufour, Mark Agoro, 52 and Wilfred Owusu, 30 were arrested in separate raids across the southern part of England with other members of the gang in 2016.

Mark Agoro has been sentenced to 14 years and 6 months in prison whilst Wilfred Owusu received a 20-year sentence. Felicia Kufour however, is still awaiting her sentence.

Felicia was arrested when she went to the Heathrow Airport to pick up a drug-laden bag from a Rio flight.

According to a report by dailymail.co.uk, she was waiting in arrivals to pick up the bag, but staff of the British Airways noticed the Rio suitcase should not be there and rolled it away.

Upon sensing danger, Kufour tried to flee but was seized by border force officers.

The report further indicated that Mark Agoro and Wilfred Owusu were part of the wholesalers with international contacts who raked cash in for the gang.

Owusu organised couriers to fly in and collect the luggage and walk away without any customs checks, Southwark Crown Court heard.

Over 100 kilograms of cocaine, which had an average of 78.5% purity, was seized during the 15-month scam.

The drug smugglers were led by two corrupt British Airways baggage handlers.

The syndicate stuffed suitcases with the restricted and prohibited items from Brazil from the international arrivals carousel at Heathrow Airport to the domestic arrivals hall to avoid security checks and were being aided by baggage handlers to sneak the cases out of the airport.

Security agents used CCTV footage at the airport to close down on them.

 

Source: Ghanaweb