UK ganja exporters convicted

Two out of four persons arrested by the Ashaima police for engaging in exportation of narcotic drug to the United Kingdom have been convicted by the Ashaiman circuit court.

The convicts, Edmund Mensah, 35 and Kwaku Bonsu, 47, were convicted by the court, presided over by Gabriel Mate-Teye, after they had changed their initial plea of not guilty to guilty.

They were convicted to a fine of 45 penalty units each, which amounts to GHC2,400.

Police at Ashaiman charged the two of giving bribe to influence a public officer, contrary to Section 252 (2) of the Criminal Offence Act 29/60.

Meanwhile, the court has ordered for the amount of £1,900 which the accused persons used in bribing the police officers to be confiscated by the state and paid at the court.

Regarding the officers who resisted the bribe, the court advised the Police Administration to commend them.

The court further ordered the Ashaiman Divisional Police Command to write to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to consider promoting them (officers).

However, the other two accused persons, Malik Ofori and Richmond Otieku, who were charged for unlawful possession of narcotic drug, have been remanded to reappear on a later date.

They denied the charges leveled against them and their docket has been forwarded to the Attorney General’s (AG’s) Department for advice.

The accused persons were arrested at their warehouse at Sebrepore, a suburb of Kakasunanka Number 2 at about 4am on June 21, 2016, where 139 boxes containing compressed slabs of Indian hemp (wee) with the inscriptions ‘Fresh Yam For Export,’ were being processed and packaged to be exported to the United Kingdom.

Items found at the time of their arrests included two compressors, binding tape, a bowl of locally manufactured soap popularly known as Alata aamina and a scale for weighing the exhibits.

Kweku Bonsu and Edmund Mensah were said to have tried to bribe the police with the above-mentioned sum of money in order to set them free but the police officers rejected the offer and the culprits were apprehended.