NACOC: No presidential escort among suspects in €225m French cocaine case

The Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) has revealed that its preliminary background checks on suspects arrested in connection with the €225 million cocaine seizure in France have not established that any of them is a presidential escort.

The clarification follows a claim by New Tafo Member of Parliament Vincent Ekow Assafuah that one of the suspects, Musah Atta, was allegedly a member of the security detail of President John Dramani Mahama and the Vice President.

In a Facebook post on Friday, September 18, Mr Assafuah questioned how a person allegedly attached to the presidential security detail could be linked to a cocaine trafficking case of such magnitude.

“US$261.45 million cocaine bust and one accused, Musah Atta, is reportedly part of the security detail of both the President and Vice President.

“How does a presidential security operative become linked to a case of this magnitude? Who granted the access, and who was watching the watchers?” he wrote.

However, Deputy Director-General of NACOC, Alexander Twum-Barimah, said checks conducted on the backgrounds of suspects currently in the Commission’s custody had not identified any of them as a presidential escort.

Speaking on TV3’s Hot Issues on Sunday, September 20, he said NACOC was aware of the backgrounds of the suspects in its custody but had found no indication that any served as a presidential bodyguard.

Mr Twum-Barimah stressed that the Commission had conducted checks on all the suspects in its custody.

“From the background that we have done, I don’t have any Presidential bodyguard. President John Dramani Mahama’s bodyguard? Then he has to come clear and explain to us his job description and everything,” he said.

“We have checked all the people that we have in custody, their backgrounds are known to us, and we don’t have any of them who is a Presidential escort,” he stressed.

He said NACOC could not independently confirm Mr Assafuah’s claim without further information on the alleged security role of Musah Atta.

“If there’s anything that they can give further and better particulars to, it will even help our investigations. But as I sit here I don’t have that, so I cannot confirm whatever Assafuah is saying,” he said.

Mr Twum-Barimah also challenged the claim that Musah Atta served as a close escort for both the President and Vice President, explaining that established security protocols did not permit one officer to simultaneously perform close protection duties for both principals.

He said the claim that one person could simultaneously serve as a close escort to both the President and Vice President was therefore inconsistent with standard protection arrangements.

“I am a trained protection escort. I was trained in South Africa as a President’s personal bodyguard even though I don’t use it. No, under no circumstance would you be allowed to be a close escort to the President and also be a close escort to the Vice President; it is not done that way.

“You must be at one wing, and each wing you have enough numbers to run. So, you will not find a close escort who will be running a dual role with the two VIPs. So, that alone defeats the argument they are raising,” he added.

This follows major cocaine seizures linked to Ghana, including the seizure of nearly 3.9 tonnes of cocaine by French customs authorities from a container shipped from Ghana.