Prosecutors in Ghana conclude case against British girls

Prosecutors in Ghana finished examining witnesses today in the trial of two British teenage girls accused of trying to smuggle £300,000 (€444,000) worth of cocaine to the UK in laptop bags.

Prosecutors in Ghana finished examining witnesses today in the trial of two British teenage girls accused of trying to smuggle £300,000 (€444,000) worth of cocaine to the UK in laptop bags.

Yasemin Vatansever and Yatunde Diya, both 16 from London, pleaded not guilty to the charges against them when they first appeared at a youth court on July 27.

The trial was adjourned until Wednesday.

At the next hearing, defence lawyers are expected to begin presenting their witnesses, an official of the Ghana Narcotics Control Board said.

The narcotics board is helping prosecutors investigate the case.

Lead prosecutor Evelyn Keelson declined to comment, telling reporters only: “We are done for the day.” The courtroom is closed to the public.

The two 16-year-old students were arrested on July 2 at Accra’s international airport and charged with drug possession and drug trafficking. They could serve up to three years in jail if found guilty in the juvenile court.

Sabine Zanker, of Fair Trials Abroad, has said: “They vigorously deny the charges against them, particularly that they were recruited to transport drugs from Ghana to the UK in return for £3,000 (€4,437).

“Both girls maintain that such an arrangement never existed.”

Last month, Miss Vatansever told Channel 4 News from prison: “There were basically two boys over here who gave us two bags.

“We never thought anything bad was inside... and they told us to go to the UK and drop it off to some boy at the airport.

“It was basically like a set-up. They didn’t tell us nothing, we didn’t think nothing, because basically we are innocent. We don’t know nothing about this drugs and stuff, we don’t know nothing.”

Miss Vatansever is the London-born daughter of immigrants from Cyprus, while Miss Diya, is a British citizen of Nigerian descent.

Drug trafficking is on the rise in West Africa and several nations have made a point of burning huge pyres of seized cocaine in recent weeks.

Cocaine, mostly from Colombia, is being brought on small planes and dropped off on islands off the little-policed West African coast, then distributed to couriers who carry it on to Europe.

British and Ghanaian officials began collaborating last year after the number of drug-related arrests at London airports linked to West African flights soared.

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