Ghanaian court orders extradition of British drug suspect

A Ghanaian high court here on Tuesday ruled for the extradition of British fugitive David McDermott, who is facing charges relating to drug trafficking.

McDermott, 42, was arrested in Accra in March in an international collaboration between the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) of Ghana and the National Crime Agency (NCA) of Britain.

The court, presided over by Justice Merley Efua Wood, ordered that the suspect should be taken to the UK to stand trial for drug related charges leveled against him.

The court therefore ordered the suspect to be kept in police custody pending a warrant from the Ministry of the Interior for his extradition.

Prosecutors had told the court that the suspected fugitive had a Ghanaian passport with the name David Smith, and ran a mining company in the Eastern Region of Ghana.

According to the National Crime Agency, MacDermott is suspected to be a member of an organized crime syndicate from Liverpool, and has been on the run for three years after being part of a plot to import 71 million Pounds Sterling worth of cocaine into Britain.