Man fined GHC90,000 for possession of unregistered herbal medicines

A man who was put before an Accra Circuit Court on a charge of possession of herbal medicinal products without registration has been convicted to a fine of GHC90,000 or in default serve 15 years in jail.

Issah Hamah, a hawker, pleaded guilty with explanation before the court presided over by Mrs Harriet Jane Akweley Quaye.

Hamah’s explanation could not absolve him from the crime.

Prosecuting, Inspector Mabel Atsu narrated that the complainant Emmanuel Sackey and another witness are personnel of the Presidential Monitoring Department, Osu Castle, Accra.

Inspector Atsu said on May 29, this year, at about 1400 hours, when the complainant and the witness were on their usual patrols, they came across Hamah at Ave Maria, a suburb in Dansoman with 126 small pieces of substances tied in plain polythene, five small containers of cream labelled “three days hip ups,” “Odo me de car no bema wo,” and “King bazooka penis extension” respectively.

Prosecution said the complainant and his team quizzed Hamah over his license and he told them that he did not have one.

Based on that, Hamah was apprehended and sent to the Police Station at Dansoman.

During Police interrogation, Hamah stated that the drugs were prepared and given to him by his father, Issifu Hamah, a herbalist in Niger and brought same to Ghana but sales of the medicines had been slow.

Prosecution said the medicines had been sent to the Food and Drugs Board Authority for examination.