Governor of Bank of Ghana Henry Kofi Wampah expressed Sunday shock about the arrest of David McDermott on suspicion of his involvement in illicit drug trade.
According to Wampah, the suspect has been married to his step-daughter Ramona for the past three years.
“David has been known to me as a worker in the mining sector and has been living in the country with Ramona since their marriage some three years ago,” Wampah said in a statement.
The governor added: “Until I received information about his arrest, I had absolutely no knowledge about David being a fugitive of the British government.”
McDermott, aged 42, was arrested here on Friday in an international collaboration between the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) of Ghana and the National Crime Agency (NCA) of Britain.
According to the NCA, McDermott is a suspected member of a Liverpool-based organized crime group involved in a conspiracy to import and supply cocaine which was seized from a container of frozen Argentinean beef in May 2013 at Tilbury Docks.
Extradition procedures for the suspect are expected to start on Monday in the latest collaborative effort by Ghana and Britain to clampdown on the drug trade.
McDermott is currently in the custody of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), having fled the United Kingdom following a drug related offense.
Read Also:
The 42-year-old had married and had a child with the daughter of the Governor, the UK Mirror reported a day after his arrest.
Suspected of being a member of an organised crime syndicate from Liverpool – he has been on the run for three years for his connection to a smuggling plot to import £71 million worth of cocaine into the UK.
He faces extradition to the UK.
Reacting to the news, the governor of the Central Bank said: “I have received news about the arrest of David McDermott, who is married to my step daughter, Ramona, with shock.
“David has been known to me as a worker in the mining sector and has been living in the country with Ramona since their marriage some three years ago.
“Until I received information about his arrest, I had absolutely no knowledge about David being a fugitive of the British government.”
McDermott’s gang is believed to be responsible for a failed smuggling operation discovered by Border Force at Tilbury Docks in May 2013, when officers seized 400kg (881Ibs) of cocaine smuggled into the country in a container of frozen Argentinian beef.
The suspected drug trafficker is also wanted for conspiracy to blackmail.
His arrest means that 76 out of 86 fugitives on the Captura list have now been caught.
The Operation was launched in 2006 to trace wanted criminals suspected of fleeing to Spain to avoid the British authorities.
