The Managing Director of Sohin Security Services Limited, Solomon Adelaquaye, who was arrested for alleged drug trafficking has been indicted at the New York District Court on a charge of conspiracy to import heroin into the United States (US).
Facing the same charge with him are Samuel Antonio Pinedo-Rueda, a Colombian; Frank Chima Muodum and Celestine Ofor Orjinweke, both Nigerians.
Pinedo-Rueda, 72, was apprehended in Colombia on May 16, 2013, pursuant to a Red Notice issued at the request of the US, and is awaiting extradition.
Adelaquaye, 48, a Ghanaian; Muodum, 44, and Orjinweke, 53, were arrested in New York on May 9, 2013 and presented and arraigned before US Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein.
The syndicate was busted following a collaboration between the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of the Department of Justice of the US and the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) of Ghana.
The operation to arrest the suspects, who are suspected to be members of an international drug trafficking syndicate operating between West Africa and the US, is said to have lasted slightly over a year.
The case, which is to be tried by a grand jury, has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams, while Assistant United States Attorney, Michael Ferrara, is in charge of the prosecution.
The accused are said to have intentionally and knowingly combined, conspired, confederated and agreed together and with one another to violate the narcotics laws of the US.
The charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
According to the indictment, in Accra, Ghana, in February 2012, Pinedo-Rueda, Muodum and Orjinweke sold one kilogramme of heroin for $28,000 to two confidential sources (the CSs) working for the DEA of the Department of Justice of the US.
It said during meetings leading to the sale, one of the CSs purported to be a Colombian narcotics trafficker in search of heroin to sell to customers in New York City, while the other posed as a courier for that trafficker who would transport the heroin to New York for distribution.
According to the indictment, Adelaquaye, who was responsible for security at the Kotoka International Airport in Ghana, agreed to facilitate the movement of the heroin through the airport without detection, in exchange for a $10,000 payment.
It said in recorded meetings in Accra in May 2013, Adelaquaye, Muodum and Orjinweke further agreed that one of the CSs would supply them with 3,000 kilogrammes of cocaine, valued at $25,000 per kilogramme, in exchange for an amount of heroin of similar value to be delivered to the US in multiple shipments of 25 kilogrammes each.
Daily Graphic
