Accra, May 10, GNA - An Accra Fast Track High Court on Thursday handed down a 10-year jail term each on Ellis Tamakloe, a student and son of Dr Nyaho Nyaho Tamakloe Ghana's Ambassador to Serbia and another for attempted exportation of narcotic drugs and possessing narcotic drugs without lawful authority.
Nyaho-Tamakloe and his accomplice Roger Ocloo, an employee of DHL, a courier service, pleaded not guilty.
On April 26, this year, the court, presided over by Mrs Iris-May Brown, a Court of Appeal Judge however, found them guilty and deferred sentencing to today.
Defence Counsel for Tamakloe, Mr Ellis Owusu Fordjour told the court that his client, a first offender was misled by a friend and pleaded for leniency.
Ocloo's counsel told the court that his client was a father of six adding if he is given a long jail term, it would affect the children and his spouse.
Counsel prayed the court to consider the children and the spouse and deal leniently with Ocloo.
Handing down the various sentences, it noted that Ocloo's pilfering of the monies would be detrimental to company's revenue and the country as a whole if the company had not been vigilant.
The Court said it had taken into consideration the submission by both counsels and given the minimum sentences.
On April 26, the court deferring its sentences, noted that but for the vigilance of the worker at the DHL office, the deal by the accused persons would have gone through.
It said the fact that the parcel was found at the office of the DHL did not mean the accused were not liable.
According to the court, there was no dispute about Ocloo having possessed a parcel for transfer to an address in London.
In Ocloo's evidence, the court said, he admitted falsifying the name of the original sender and code attached to the parcel.
"The deliberate act of concealing the address and changing the code and address does not exonerate him".
In the case of Tamakloe, the court noted that it was on record that an attempt was made to arrest one Harry Campbell, who was said to have sent him the parcel but that was not enough for his defence.
The court said the testimony of Tamakloe showed that he knew the correct procedure in sending parcels but acted contrary.
It said the complicity in using a wrong signature and address made him guilty.
The fact of the case are that on August 30, Ocloo took a parcel to the DHL office at Kanda in Accra to be sent to U.K but the operational manager discovered that the parcel contained some compressed dried leaves suspected to be cannabis.
The prosecution said the DHL subsequently reported the matter to the Narcotics Control Board and that led to the arrest of Ocloo. The prosecutor said a search in Ocloo's room led to the discovery of a number of way bills, including the one used for the unsuccessful export.
During interrogation, Ocloo allegedly mentioned Tamakloe as the one who gave the parcel to him.
Tamakloe upon on arrest told the police that it was a man called Harry who gave the substance to him to post to the United Kingdom. The prosecutor said Harry is now at large and was being pursued while the drugs were also forwarded to the Ghana Standard Board for analytical examination.
