Ghana drug charge girls due in court

Two British girls being held in Ghana on drugs charges are preparing for a court appearance.

The 16-year-olds from London were arrested at Accra Airport where they were stopped allegedly carrying cocaine worth £300,000 in laptop bags.

Police identified the two as Yasemin Vatansever, the London-born daughter of immigrants from Cyprus, and Yatunde Diya, also a British citizen of Nigerian descent.

Vatansever claims she and her friend were tricked into carrying drugs to London.

Speaking by telephone from prison in Accra, she said: "There were basically two boys over here who gave us two bags, and told us to bring it, that it was an empty bag.

"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."

She continued: "The two boys gave us bags in Ghana to bring to London, to give to the boy in London.

"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."

The interview follows reports that they were recruited in London and may have been "pressurised" into carrying the drug.

Justice campaign group Fair Trials Abroad said it intended to take a keen interest in the case.

© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.