Court remands electrician for possessing Indian hemp

A Tarkwa circuit court has remanded Iddrisu Anas Babao, electrician, into prison custody for possessing dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp without authority.

His plea was not taken and he will re-appear before court on February 8.

Detective Chief Inspector Oscar Amponsah told the court presided over by Mr. Samuel Obeng Diawuo that the complainant is the Tarkwa Division of the Ghana Police Service and Babao reside in Wenchi Zongo.

According to the prosecution, on January 17 at about 0130 hours, the police had a tip-off from an informant that four cartons were suspiciously being parked into a house at the Railway Quarters, near the Tarkwa Railways station.

Chief Insp. Amponsah said the informant helped the police to go to the house to convey the boxes to the police station.

The court heard that a few minutes later, Baba arrived at the police station and the informant identified him as the owner of the boxes and he was arrested.

The prosecution said when the boxes were opened in the presence of the suspect, 75 slaps of dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp were found.

Chief Insp. Amponsah said the suspect admitted that the dried leaves belong to him and that he brought them from Wenchi to be distributed at galamsey sites in Tarkwa, Nkroful and Teleko-Bokaso.

Chief Insp. Amponsah said the dried leaves would be sent to the Police Forensic Science Crime Laboratory for examination.