Medical Doctors at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi have successfully carried out a surgical operation to ‘deliver’ a 34-year-old man of 73 pellets of substance suspected to be cocaine.

Mohammed Joojo Gyimah had complained of severe stomach pains and was rushed to the hospital around 8:30pm last Wednesday.

Prior to the operation, two pellets had already burst in Gyimah’s stomach but the remaining 73 were intact, a source at KATH told DAILY GUIDE.

The suspected cocaine dealer is now in the custody of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ashanti Regional Police Command, and full-scale investigations have begun into the matter.

Narrating the incident to DAILY GUIDE, the source said Gyimah was about to emplane to Spain when he suddenly developed stomach upset at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra.

The suspect, he said, was hurriedly rushed to a private hospital (name withheld) in Accra to remove the pellets from his stomach, but that was unsuccessful.

Doctors at the hospital, the source indicated, charged €10,000 for the surgery, an amount which Gyimah could not immediately raise.

At that juncture, Gyimah, who was almost dying, was rushed by his pals to another private hospital in Kumasi for the surgery.

Realizing how critical Gyimah’s condition was, the doctor in charge suggested that the suspect be rushed without delay to KATH to save his life.

According to the source, Joojo Gyimah, prior to the surgery, admitted swallowing some pellets of cocaine.

The suspect was later handed over to the Ashanti Regional CID. Meanwhile, the Ashanti Regional Police Command has confirmed the story, and indicated that investigation into the matter was ongoing.

In a statement signed by DCOP Kwaku Ayesu Opare Addo, the Regional Police Commander, and issued in Kumasi on Wednesday, the police said “73 pellets or thumb-sized balls of substance suspected to be either cocaine or heroine retrieved from the suspect’s tummy is in our possession”.

The police indicated that Joojo Gyimah, a native of Achiase in the Ashanti Region, is based in Barcelona, Spain as a trader and labourer.

“Joojo Gyimah returned to Ghana about five months ago and met one Asare from the Brong Ahafo Region who supplied him with the exhibits to be taken to Barcelona, Spain for a fee of €2000,” DCOP Opare Addo added.

The suspect, he continued, on August 13, 2008 swallowed the substance with the intention of sending it to Spain, but he experienced severe abdominal pains on arrival at the Kotoka International Airport.

The Police Commander added that the suspect quickly returned to Kumasi ostensibly to remove the pellets which proved futile, adding that Joojo Gyimah later collapsed and was rushed to KATH by his housemates.

DCOP Opare Addo stated that on getting wind of the case, he detailed 24 armed guards to the Intensive Care Unit of KATH on August 14, who stayed there till the hospital authorities performed the surgical operation on the suspect and handed him over to them.

The suspect, he added, is currently responding to treatment at KATH while police investigations continue.