British officials in Ghana were yesterday trying to ensure the two British schoolgirls arrested trying to leave the country with £300,000 of cocaine hidden in laptop bags are moved to "more appropriate" juvenile detention accommodation before their first court date on Wednesday.

 

Yasemin Vatansever and Yatunde Diya, from north London, were moved on Friday to the headquarters of the narcotics control board where they are sharing a cell. They face 10 years in prison if found guilty.

 

A senior narcotics officer who interrogated the girls following their arrest as they tried to board a flight to London described the moment they were caught. "They were carrying their luggage to the airport departure formalities when the operations saw they had a laptop bag," he told the BBC. "When they opened it, it was empty but when they lifted it, it was heavy. They cut it and saw there was a white substance. It was proved to be cocaine."

 

He added: "They knew what they were coming to do in Ghana. They were asked by a certain Ghanaian, by the name of Jay, to come to Ghana and pick up two laptop bags for a fee of £3,000."

 

Campaign group Fair Trials Abroad has raised concerns about the girls' treatment. They were arrested on 2 July and questioned without lawyers present. They also say that as the girls are minors they should have been allowed to fly to London before being arrested. The group is now ensuring the girls have proper legal support.

 

The case highlights a new front in the so-called war on drugs. This has seen South America's drug lords doing multimillion-pound business with West Africa's military and political leaders. Routes for bringing cocaine into Britain and Europe have changed in the past few months with West Africa becoming the major transit point between Colombia and Europe. Up to 20 "mules", or drug couriers, a week are believed to be arriving in Britain from the region.

 

The British girls were stopped by Ghanaian Narcotic Control Board officers, who are part of Operation Westbridge, a project set up by HM Revenue and Customs and the Ghanaian authorities. An HMRC spokesman said: "Operation Westbridge has been going since November, and has already stopped £10m worth of drugs heading to the UK and Europe. These girls are not the first British nationals to be arrested but they are the youngest."

 

Do you feel sorry for them or not.

not

 

they must have known what they were upto... they were incredibly stupid and must pay the consequences, though i doubt the geezers who set up this task will be brought to justice.

They made their bed they should lie in it, let them rot in jail

Lock them up and throw away the key.

I think they've been very stupid. I know they're only 16, but surely they must have known they weren't being paid £3,000 to bring back two laptops. And did their parents know they were jetting off Ghana? Seems as though they'll have to pay the consequences but the ones who set them up are the ones the authorities need to go after now.

Not. They're well over the age of criminal responsibility. On the way out of Britain they would have been asked if they packed their own cases and if anyone else had given them anything to carry.

 

They took a risk for easy money. If they co-operate fully and tell the whole truth, they should be brought back to Britain for trial.