British girls held in Ghana over drug find

Two 16-year-old girls from Britain have been arrested by police in Ghana for allegedly carrying cocaine worth £300,000.

British customs officers involved in the operation said the teenagers were arrested at Accra airport. The drugs were reportedly in laptop cases found by officers from the Ghanaian Narcotic Control Board (Nacob).

They were taking part in Operation Westbridge, a project set up by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in conjunction with the Ghanaian authorities to tackle the problems of drug smugglers using the airport as a gateway to the UK and Europe.

One of the girls, believed to be named Yasmin, is said to be from north London. Her uncle said: "These girls have apparently had all their clothes taken away from them, and all they have is the set of clothes in which they got arrested.

"They've not been given proper food, the British consulate have been helping out by giving them some food, but all they've been getting is water and biscuits. These girls are held with adults, other criminals, who are much older than them."

The girls have reportedly been remanded in police custody, and will appear in a juvenile court, where they will face charges of possession of drugs and attempting to export drugs.

If found guilty, they face a minimum sentence of 10 years.

Tony Walker, leading the operation for HMRC, said the alleged use of such young girls as couriers "vividly illustrates the ruthlessness of the criminal drug gangs involved in this traffic".

He said: "The dedication of UK and Ghanaian drug detection officers has prevented deadly Class A drugs from entering the UK."

Mr Walker added: The Westbridge collaboration between Ghana and the UK is delivering real results in this and other cases by helping to protect both countries from the violence and corruption that always accompanies the trade in illegal drugs."

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said officers from the British Embassy were supporting the two girls.

She said: "We are aware of the arrest of two British national minors on July 2 at Accra airport. Next of kin have been informed and we are providing full consular assistance. We are unable to confirm any personal details due to their age."

Operation Westbridge, which was launched last November, sees British customs officers give technical and operational expertise to the Ghanaian government.

This includes training in the use of Foreign Office-funded scanning equipment.

The project follows the success of Operation Airbridge, a joint UK/Jamaican initiative to catch drug couriers with internal concealments of Class A drugs before they board planes from Jamaica.

HMRC believes that operation has proved the value of working in partnership with local law enforcement agencies - during the four years that operation has been running, the number of "drug swallowers" detected at UK airports from Jamaica has fallen markedly.

West Africa has been identified as a staging post for Class A drugs targeted on the UK.

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