Lance Corporal Dwamena Yabson, one of the three policemen standing trial for their involvement in the disappearance of 76 parcels of cocaine from the Tema Port, is said to have admitted in his caution statement that he knew Asem Darke, popularly called Sheriff, declared by the police as the most wanted man in the case. He reportedly said in the statement read in court by a prosecution witness that at the Kpone Beach (where the cocaine was offloaded), Sheriff who was driving in a green land cruiser rolled down the glasses and mentioned his name before enquiring from him what he was doing there. Detective Inspector Justice Oppong of the Regional Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Police Service, read Yabson’s statement yesterday when he gave his evidence-in-chief at the Accra Fast Track High Court trying the three policemen. Yabson, Sergeant David Nyarko and Lance Corporal Peter Bundorin together with Detective Sergeant Samuel Yaw Amoah now at large, were said to have taken an undisclosed amount and released Sheriff and another man after arresting them with the 76 parcels of cocaine. All the three, who were attached to the Tema Regional Police Command have pleaded not guilty to two counts engaging in prohibited business related to narcotic drugs and corruption by a public officer. They are currently on remand in police custody. Yabson, according to the statement, seconded on September 11, last year went to the house of Sherriff at Community 5 in Tema together with the accused persons, Amoah and the three fishermen who brought the information concerning the cocaine before Sherriff "dropped" him and Amoah at Tema Community One. "There were some wild dogs in Sheriff’s house so I did not enter. It was Amoah alone who went there with him. They came back later and Sheriff took us to Community One in his car," Mr. Oppong quoted Yabson as saying in the statement. In the statement Yabson admitted having gone to the Kpone Police Station to request for reinforcement to arrest the suspects and the officer-in-charge asked Sgt. Samuel Asante and Bundorin to accompany him. He said he knew Sheriff at the Community One Police Station where the fugitive sometimes came to bail suspects and added that he had told the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI), Tema Office that he knew Sheriff when the office invited him concerning the matter. "The BNI Officer asked me to assist them to locate the house of Sheriff but I told them I did not know the place but I would locate the wife’s house," the statement continued. In his September 1, 2006 caution statement, Yabson had denied that he went to the Kpone Beach with the co-accused. In Nyarko’s statement taken on September 3, 2006, he had denied joining the co-accused to arrest the suspects who imported the narcotic substance but on September 11 when another caution statement was taken he said he went to Kpong with them after closing from guard duties. He said it was Amoah who asked him to accompany him to Kpone and they walked along the Tema New Town Beach to Kpone while Yabson took a taxi to cross the suspects at Kpone. He said he had told Amoah that he did not want to go on "operation" with Yabson because his co-accused had a "questionable character" and added that the Community One junior policemen were disrespectful". He told the court that there were three vehicles – a saloon car driven by one "Killer", a Land Cruiser and a van-in which the cocaine was transported. Witness said the Land Cruiser and the saloon have both been retrieved and at the Kpone Beach, Bundorin attempted to intercept the convoy but it was Amoah who convinced him to stop and asked him to accompany them to Sheriff’s house. He said the van and the saloon car went separate ways and in Sheriff’s house the policemen collected an undisclosed amount and gave 10,000 dollars to the fishermen. According to him, Sheriff had created a special compartment in his house at Community 5 where he kept the cocaine but they did not find anything when they stormed the house. He said none of the policemen told their superiors about the operation. The court presided over by Justice Annin Yeboah, a Court of Appeal Judge adjourned proceedings until February 20, for the witness to be cross examined. Times