Ghana tries UK teens on drug charges

Two British teenage girls have gone on trial in Ghana charged with trying to smuggle drugs.

Yasemin Vatansever and Yatunde Diya, both 16, were arrested on July 2 at Accra's Kotoka airport.

Ghanaian anti-drugs officers said they found 6kg (13lbs) of cocaine in two laptop bags they were carrying as they boarded a flight to Britain.

British Embassy spokesman Gary Nicholl said: "The charges were formalised and they are one count of possession of a controlled substance and one of attempting to export a controlled substance without a licence."

The court sat in closed session and Mr Nicholl said Ghana's juvenile law prevented him from disclosing their pleas.

After their arrest, the two girls said they were tricked into carrying the laptop bags by male acquaintances in Ghana and Britain and that they did not know what was in them.

They could face ten years in a Ghanaian jail if convicted.

Vatansever and Diya entered the court building in the capital Accra through a rear entrance 20 minutes before the scheduled start.

The pair left the court hiding their faces 90 minutes later and were driven away in a car.

Officers of Ghana's Narcotics Control Board have said the girls were being paid £3,000 each to carry the bags to Britain.

They say the men the girls met paid for their flights, accommodation and food in Ghana.

The drugs have an estimated value of £300,000 on British streets.

Ghanaian police have said they are looking for three men, one in Britain and two in Ghana, in connection with the case.

The teenagers were arrested under Operation Westbridge, a project set up by Britain and Ghana to tackle drug smugglers using Accra airport as a gateway to Britain and Europe.

West Africa has become an important staging post for Colombian cocaine on its way to lucrative European markets.

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