Attempts by the General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie to play politics with the £4.3 million cocaine and cannabis bust at Heathrow Airport in London, has exploded badly in his face as the exporter has turned out to be his party member.

Francis Kwame Asante, the exporter of the 1.5 tonnes of cannabis and 7.5 kilogrammes cocaine exported to the United Kingdom (UK) from Ghana, is a card-bearing member of NPP, connected to Ursula Owusu and Joe Appiah, Ablekuma West and North NPP Parliamentary candidates, respectively.

Mr. Asante, nicknamed Wofa aged, 64, was busted in an operation by officials of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) and the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI).

Wofa, holds an NPP membership card numbered GR 1171001ALNA3, issued him by none other than its General Secretary, Mr. Owusu Afriyie, who recently claimed that he has information that members of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) were behind the drug export.

Mr. Asante’s membership card found in his room was issued to him and signed by the NPP General Secretary on November 28, 2011.

He belongs to Ablekuma North of the NPP and is a registered voter in the Blue Lagoon Hotel Sakaman – South Odorkor area in the Greater Accra Region.

A reliable source close to Mr. Asante has confirmed to THE HERALD, that he made the export in his capacity as a shipping agent, however, there is no evidence to link him to the drugs as the parcels were physically inspected thoroughly by the security officials including NACOB officers stationed at the airport before it was allowed onboard the aircraft.

Long after the bust in UK, Mr. Asante, THE HERALD gathered, kept going to work until 15 days later, when he was arrested at the the Aviance Cargo Village at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra,while processing another parcel for export.

It was revealed, to THE HERALD, that Mr. Asante regularly got a phone call from a man in UK, who told him to pick and parcel the stuff from a certain destination and send it to him through an address.

The telephone numbers, the names and other details of the callers and the consignee have been handed over to the Ghanaian security authorities by Mr. Asante, THE HERALD has gathered.

The source questioned whether Mr. Asante would not have fled the country just like the others did if, indeed, he knew the contents of the parcel as something illegal.

THE HERALD’S source, questioned the whereabout of the NACOB officers who inspected the parcels, and described Mr. Asante, as a poor man struggling to keep body and soul together.

The suspect is presently in the custody of the BNI, THE HERALD learnt.

THE HERALD’S attempt to speak to Ursula Owusu and Joe Appiah, Ablekuma West and North NPP Parliamentary candidates, respectively, did not yield any result.

While, Ursula Owusu did not answer calls and text messages to her phone, Mr. Joe Appiah who answered and demanded to be called back as he was in Parliament, also failed to answer his phone subsequently.

Mr. Owusu Afriyie, popular called Sir John, in September, claimed that the cannabis busted at the Heathrow Airport in London, earlier this week on board a plane from Ghana, was being exported by a member of the ruling NDC. Readers will recall that Border Force officials at the Heathrow Airport last month busted 1.5 tonnes of cannabis in tape-wrapped compressed packages within boxes on a flight from Accra.

The drugs, which weighed around 1.5 tonnes and had a street value of £4.3 million, were found in three separate freight containers filled with fresh fruit and vegetables and reported as the biggest cannabis seizure in three years.

Five officials of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), Kamaldeen Awudu, Wolanyo Fiano, Ibrahim Badoo, Marvin Amon-kotei and Ben Kusi Asante have been picked up by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) in connection with the latest seizure of cannabis in the UK.

However, commenting on the cocaine bust in the UK on Asempa FM’s “Kukurantumi” programme aired on Saturdays, the General secretary of the NPP noted that his party was aware that the owner of that cannabis is an “NDC man”. Though he was unable to name the said owner of the busted cannabis, Sir John said the NPP will soon release detailed information to back their claim.

”We are aware the drugs were carried to the UK by an NDC man and in the coming days we shall bring the details out. We are reliably informed and will make everybody aware of what the NDC is doing to the country. They lied in the past and tagged NPP with narcotics which they are now paying the ultimate price for it.

“The NDC in the past told us that cocaine, wee and other drugs have become a thing of the past and have now become a scarce commodity. Now what are they saying about this. It is shameful to the NDC and its government,” Sir John maintained.

He said the NDC is paying the price for branding NPP as a narcotic peddler’s party in the past and wondered whether the NDC can politicize drug issues in Ghana again.