Christian Asem Darkei, alias The Limping Man, who went into hiding after his name had come up in the MV Benjamin cocaine scandal in April 2006, has been remanded into custody by the Accra Circuit Court for his alleged role in the shipment and disappearance of 77 parcels of cocaine. Also known as Sheriff, Darkei has been charged with three counts of conspiracy to commit crime, importation/exportation of narcotic drugs, to wit cocaine, and possession of narcotic drugs, to wit cocaine. His plea was not taken and he is to reappear before the court on February 22, 2012. According to the facts of the case, as presented to the court, presided over by Ms Audrey Kokuvi-Tay, about midnight on April 26, 2006, a vessel, the MV Benjamin, reportedly carrying about 77 parcels of cocaine docked at Kpone/Tema and discharged the cocaine. The 77 parcels were offloaded into a waiting vehicle which carried them away. According to the prosecution, in the course of investigations, Sheriff’s featured prominently as the importer and/or owner of the drug. He was said to be the person who chartered the vessel at a cost of $150,000 to tow another vessel from Guinea to Ghana. Sheriff, the prosecution noted, was the person who carted the alleged 77 parcels on the ship’s arrival at Kpone. The prosecution therefore, asked the court to remand him into custody to enable the investigators to trace all the records relating to the MV Benjamin scandal to initiate an action. The Limping Man was picked up at the precincts of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital on February 2, 2012 by officials of the Bureau of the National Investigations (BNI) upon a tip-off. After the disappearance of the alleged cocaine, the Georgina Wood Committee was inaugurated on July 4, 2006 to investigate the circumstances that had led to the scandal. The committee was tasked to, first, determine the facts leading to the suspected loss of 77 parcels of cocaine imported by sea and, second, determine the allegation of bribery levelled against some senior police officers in respect of the seizure of 558 kilogrammes of cocaine from an East Legon house. It completed its sittings on September 5, 2006 and found out that the cocaine was owned by four people who had masterminded its importation and discharge. They were Sheriff, Captain Hwak of Adede2/MVBenjamin, Chief Engineer Cui Xian Li and Kwak Seong, aka Killer. The committee recommended the prosecution of four persons, ACP Kofi Boakye, Kwabena ‘Tagor’ Amaning, Issah Abass, Kwabena Acheapong and Mohammed Moro. Consequently, the trial began of some of those persons and on November 28, 2007 Tagor and Abass were sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment each with hard labour for conspiracy and engaging in prohibited business relating to narcotic drugs. However, they were released on July 25, 2009 when they appealed against the High Court decision. Also in July 2008, an Accra Fast Track High Court, presided over by Justice Anin Yeboah, convicted and sentenced Joseph Kojo Dawson, owner of the MV Benjamin and Managing Director of Dashment Company Limited; Isaac Arhin, sailor; Phillip Bruce Arhin, mechanic; Cui Xian Li, the vessel engineer, and Luo Yui Xing, sailor, all crew members of the MV Benjamin, to 25 years in prison with hard labour. One of the Arhins later died in prison. The accused persons were charged with possessing narcotic drugs without authority and engaging in a prohibited business, while Dawson was convicted for using his property for narcotic offence and their complicity in the promotion of the narcotic drug enterprise. Another trial involving three police officers took place and they were convicted and sentenced but one of them died in prison. Although the Georgina Wood Committee recommended that Sheriff be prosecuted, he had since 2006 proved elusive until his arrest. Sheriff was indicted for allegedly paying $3,000 to a detective sergeant to facilitate his (Sheriff’s) escape.