Nigerian jailed 10 years over drugs

A Kumasi Circuit Court has sentenced a Nigerian businessman to ten years imprisonment in hard labour for illegally possessing a quantity of Cannabis weighing 4967.6920 grams.

Sunday Okay, the convict pleaded not guilty to the offense but was found culpable after the trial.

Police Superintendent Emmanuel Akunnor, told the court that the ‘stuff’ compressed into six-cello taped slabs, were found hidden on a commercial SsangYong bus, when the police personnel intercepted the vehicle at a check point at Nkawkaw near Abofuor on the Techiman-Kumasi highway.

This was on August 30, 2014, at about 1200 hours.

The bus with Registration Number AW 4049-14 was from Techiman in the Brong-Ahafo Region to Accra, with Okay and other passengers on board.

The Court presided over by Madam Comfort Tasiame further heard that Okay claimed ownership after questioning and together with the exhibits, he was handed over to the Drug Law Enforcement Unit for investigations.

The exhibits were then forwarded to the Ghana Standard Authority (GSA) in Accra for forensic examination and a comprehensive report confirming the weight and the veracity of the substance as cannabis, was returned to the Court on February 18, 2015.

A duplicate case docket was forwarded to The Attorney General’s Department for study and advice.

An advice was received from the Attorney General’s Department on April 20, 2014 giving the green light for him to be charged with the offence.

He admitted ownership of the exhibits during investigations and claimed it was given to him at Techiman by a friend to be given to someone in Accra.