Three officials of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) who are alleged to have been involved in the smuggling of cocoa at Ghana's western frontier were yester­day remanded in police custody when they appeared before the Accra Circuit Court. They are Mate Korle, Frederick Kofi­. abley and Kofi Aboagye, all Assistant Immigration Control Officers Grade II: They were charged with abetment of crime and they will reappear on April 28, 2010. The accused persons were said to have aided a group of people to unlawfully export dried cocoa beans across Ghana's Western frontier between January and February this year. Their pleas were not taken but their counsel, Mr George Asumaning, told the .court, presided over by Mrs Patience Mills- Tetteh, that evidence would be led to prove the innocence of his clients. Eight officials of the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) and two policemen alleged to be involved in cocoa smuggling were remanded in police cus­tody last Wednesday. The prosecutor, Deputy Superinten­dent of Police Mr P. K. Frimpong, told the court that an investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, conducted investigations into the activities of security officials at the frontier between Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire and found that some of them had been compromised by people who smuggled dried cocoa beans from Ghana to Cote d'Ivoire. He said the accused persons, accord­ing to the investigations conducted by the journalist, received various sums of money from cocoa beans smugglers and assisted them to carry the beans across. Mr Frimpong said the journalist secretly captured the nefarious activities of the accused on video and referred it to the police for investigations. He told the court that investigations into the case were ongoing, hence the need for it to remand the accused in police custody. Source: Daily Graphic