The Gbetsile Circuit Court has handed down a combined 30-year jail term to two police officers found guilty of trafficking narcotic drugs, bringing an end to a case that has gripped the security community since 2023.
The court, presided over by Mrs. Eleanor Kakra Banes Botchway, on Friday, November 28, 2025, convicted Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Nasiru Amadu and General Corporal Emmanuel Mintah after determining that the officers used their positions to aid the movement of large quantities of narcotics.
ASP Amadu and Mintah were charged with conspiracy to commit crime—namely unlawful possession of narcotic drugs for trafficking—contrary to Section 23(1) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960, as well as unlawful possession of narcotics for trafficking under Section 37(2)(b) of the Narcotic Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019).
The pair received five and ten years’ imprisonment respectively for each offence, but the sentences will run concurrently, resulting in 10 years each. They were also fined 10,000 penalty units, equivalent to GH¢120,000. Failure to pay will attract an additional three-year custodial term.
How the officers were caught
According to the prosecution, led by ASP Ernest Kuofie, the case began on November 19, 2023, when police officers on snap check duty in the Afienya District received intelligence that a Nissan Navara pickup with registration GP 727 was ferrying narcotic drugs from Ho to Accra.
At about 7:15 p.m., the vehicle approached the checkpoint only to be stopped and searched. Officers discovered eight large sacks containing 541 compressed parcels of substances suspected to be Indian hemp.
Investigators later established that Mintah, then a 43-year-old service driver at the Sakumono District Police Headquarters, had been recruited by a relative known as Oluman, a narcotics dealer based in Ashaiman Tulaku. Mintah allegedly contacted his superior, 48-year-old ASP Amadu, and the two agreed to transport the substances from Peki Tsibu in the Volta Region after negotiating terms with the dealer.
Both officers reportedly drove the police-registered vehicle to a forested area near Peki Tsibu, where they collected the drugs from a waiting Benz bus before being intercepted on their return journey.
The prosecution also revealed that this was not their first attempt; November 19 marked the second known instance of the officers’ involvement in the illegal operation.
A rare conviction within the service
The sentencing has been widely viewed as a stern warning against corruption within the security services, especially at a time when concerns about the involvement of law enforcement officers in narcotics distribution are growing.
The Ghana Police Service has not yet issued a public statement on the conviction, but sources say internal disciplinary measures may follow.
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