600 bags of cocoa worth GH¢120,000 diverted
A driver has diverted more than 600 bags of cocoa, worth GH¢120,000, which were in transit to a warehouse at the Commodity Village at Apowa for onward shipment abroad.
The cocoa was being hauled from Enchi in the Aowin-Suaman District in the Western Region. After leaving Enchi, Wisdom Agama, 30, the driver of the truck, with registration number GT 1049 T, sold half of the cocoa to an unknown buyer.
The police said the sacks were changed from the trademarked sacks of the original licensed buying company (LBC), Sika-Ba Cocoa Buying Company, and the remaining bags transported towards Takoradi for sale to another buyer.
According to the police, on reaching the Funko Road, Agama and his accomplices were in the process of selling the remaining 300 bags but they fled on seeing a police patrol vehicle.
The police have managed to locate the owners of the truck, who said they had lost touch with their driver.
The District Police Commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Yakubu Akologo Ayamga, told the Daily Graphic that when the police got to the scene, one of the accomplices was guarding the truck with the remaining 300 bags of cocoa on board.
He said police investigations indicated that the truck belonged to MS Transport Services and the driver assigned to that truck was accordingly identified.
DSP Ayamga said the company and the police were yet to identify which company had bought the cocoa from the driver, who is currently at large.
The management of the company is reported to have told the police that the particulars of the drivers employed for the hauling services were well documented and that the suspect requested for his licence for renewal before beginning the journey to the port.
The company told the police that it took too long to hear from the driver after his departure from Enchi on December 24, 2011 and it was surprised to learn that the suspect had not arrived in Takoradi with the consignment but sold it.
The district commander said after the truck was discovered, several calls to the driver’s mobile phone were not answered and the phone was later switched off.
The truck has been moved to the district police command, with the remaining 300 bags of cocoa in it.
It would be recalled that the Daily Graphic carried a story which indicated that the high prices of coca on the international market had made the diversion of already fumigated and processed cocoa for export a lucrative business.
The current diversion adds up to about four long vehicles fully loaded with cocoa for the Commodity Village which have been diverted. Some of the cocoa beans were not found, as the drivers abandoned the empty trucks.
The cocoa beans were sold and the sacks changed into the brand of another LBC or the beans emptied into a shed and the sacks burnt.
That, according to the companies, cost the state and the LBCs a lot of money.
Source: Daily Graphic