Staff of the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) who were implicated in the recent cocaine smuggling incident at Kotoka International Airport (KIA) have been reinstated.
This incident involved the smuggling of 8.5 kilograms of cocaine through KIA aboard Royal Air Maroc on March 23, 2024, allegedly facilitated by a GACL staff member.
Following the arrest of the illegal drugs at Brussels Airport in Belgium, GACL interdicted the staff members implicated in the incident.
The Minister of Transport Kwaku Ofori Asiamah made this known during an update on the matter before the Government Assurances Committee sitting in Parliament in Accra on Thursday.
Mr Asiamah told the committee “No they are not on interdiction. They have been cleared. Maybe per our code of conduct, per our standards maybe they were not culpable…We did so the report came, and we said that they were not culpable and the fact that they were not culpable does not mean that they slept on their job.”
He, however, failed to directly respond if any staffer at the Kotoka International Airport was responsible for the smuggling of the drugs.
Background
The GACL in April this year interdicted all staff implicated in the cocaine smuggling incident at the KIA.
The Herald Newspaper reported that the scandal emerged following the arrest of a significant quantity of illegal drugs at Brussels Airport in Belgium, with reports indicating that the cocaine was smuggled through KIA aboard the Moroccan national carrier, Royal Air Maroc, facilitated by a GACL staff member on March 23, 2024.
Proeger Delgey Bianca, a female, who is Dutch national, was apprehended at Brussels Airport with eight and a half (8.5) kilograms of suspected cocaine, allegedly transported through KIA on the mentioned date.
A statement from GACL, dated April 10, confirmed the commencement of investigations and the interdiction of the staff involved in the incident.
The management of GACL reiterated its warning to staff about assisting passengers at the airport, “failing which punitive measures not limited to but including summary dismissals and prosecutions by the State will be effected in line with existing protocols.”
Management wishes to assure the general public of its commitment and determination, in collaboration with stakeholders to ensure that operations at the airport are safe and secure.