3 jailed over cocaine

July 10, 2010 (Page 19)

THE Greater Accra Regional Tribunal has sentenced a Ghanaian and two Togolese to a total of 45 years’ imprisonment for possessing 398.5 kilogrammes of cocaine.
The three — Kwame Anane, a Ghanaian driver, Eugene Kofi Amewu, an unemployed Togolese, and Valentine Kofi Deblui, a Togolese driver, were each found guilty on two counts of possessing narcotic drugs without lawful authority and abetment.
They had pleaded not guilty to the offences but the court, after taking into account the evidence of the prosecution and the defence, held a different view and convicted them accordingly.
They were each sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment on the charge of possessing narcotic drugs without authority and 10 years imprisonment on the charge of abetment.
The sentences are to run concurrently.
Passing judgement, the trial judge, Mr Justice Kwadwo Owusu, stated that the prosecution had proved the guilt of the convicts beyond reasonable doubt.
The convicts, who were arrested upon a tip off in Nsawam in May 2008, had concealed the cocaine in a false compartment in a Mercedes Benz truck and covered the illicit drug with cow legs and hide in their bid to outwit security officials.
The facts of the case were that between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. on May 30, 2008, a team of policemen, upon a tip-off, mounted surveillance on a Mercedes Benz truck, with registration number GT 3359 Z, from Kumasi and a search uncovered 399 parcels of a substance suspected to be cocaine concealed in an artificially created compartment.
Tests conducted by the Ghana Standards Board (GSB) proved the 399 parcels positive for cocaine, with a net weight of 398,595,0131 grammes.
The tribunal, in October 2009, ordered the destruction of the cocaine, in the presence of officials from the court, the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), the GSB and the Environmental Protection Agency EPA).
The tribunal gave the order after it had been tendered in evidence by the prosecution.
The court also ordered that the Mercedes Benz which was used to convey the drugs be confiscated to the state.