An alleged drug trafficking gang operating between East and West Africa has been busted at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra, local media reported Thursday.

The suspects, Friday Ogbonna Icheogu, 43, Christian Chukwudi Icheogu, 36, both Nigerians; Mabada Zanaka Zamzam, alias Zam Nabadda, 36, and Charles Ejiku Gasper, 41, both Ugandans, were said to have been arrested in two separate operations, resulting in the seizure of 13 kilograms of heroin with a street value of over 1 million US dollars.

Ten parcels of the drug were reportedly discovered in an enamel bowl, while seven were found under the cushion of a baby pram.

Deputy Executive Secretary of Ghana?s Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), Nii Lantey Blankson, told the state-run Daily Graphic that on March 8, 2015, officials from his outfit, acting on intelligence, arrested the Ugandan woman, Mabada Zanaka Zamzam, at the KIA.
He said Zamzam arrived at the KIA around 11 a.m. on that day onboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Uganda.

But unknown to Zamzam, officials of NACOB had mounted surveillance on her.
Blankson said after she had picked her two pieces of luggage and headed outside, she was met by the two Nigerians at the entrance of the arrival hall.

The three persons exchanged pleasantries and thereafter Ogbonna introduced himself as the contact person Zamzam was supposed to meet.
Thereafter, one of the Nigerians stopped a taxi and put the luggage in it but before they could enter the taxi, NACOB officials arrested them.

Blankson said a thorough search conducted on the luggage carried by the woman revealed 10 parcels of a substance suspected to be heroin which had been concealed beneath 10 enamel bowls.
He said the 10 parcels had a gross weight of three kilograms and upon interrogation Zamzam informed the officials that she had been sent by someone whose name she gave only as Joel, a Nigerian living in Uganda, to bring the travelling bag containing the bowls to a friend in Accra who would meet her at the airport.

He said on March 16, 2015, Gasper was also picked up on arrival at the KIA on board an Ethiopian Airline flight from Entebbe through Addis Ababa to Accra.
Blankson said while profiling Gasper, it was realized that he had two baggage tags with the numbers ET438241 and ET438242 stuck at the back of his passport.
He said Gasper had earlier told NACOB officials who arrested him that he had only a hand luggage and denied any knowledge of the bag tags.
Officials then escorted him to the luggage department where a black bag and a box containing a baby?s pram had been left on the carousel.

When it was checked, it bore the name of the suspect and matched the tags behind his passport.
A thorough search in the bag and the baby?s pram revealed seven large parcels of heroin, with an approximate weight of 10 kilograms, concealed beneath the bag and the baby?s pram.
Upon interrogation, Gasper claimed the two items had been given to him in Uganda by a Nigerian whose name he gave only as Obi to be delivered to an unknown person in Accra.