THE Takoradi Circuit Court has sentenced an ex-soldier and five others to a total of 115 years’ imprisonment in hard labour for dealing in narcotic drugs.
Five of the convicts — Muftawu Karim, 20; Abudu Fatao, 28; Sally Abu, 38; Mohammed Yakubu, 19, and Julius Kumbri, the ex-soldier, 42 — were handed 20 years each, while Richmond Tandoh, 19, was given 15 years.
The convicts were arrested in separate operations by the Western Regional Drug Law Enforcement Agency of the Ghana Police Service.
The convicts, who claimed they had people who supplied them with the drugs, failed to provide the source of the drugs.
In the course of the operation, items found on them were later detected to be 28g of cannabis, 3.1705g of cocaine and 2.5793kg of heroin.
Before passing judgement, the presiding judge, Mr Kwesi Boakye Yiadom, said it was unfortunate that the youth had moved into the drugs trade.
He said the convicts, therefore, deserved the sentences to serve as a deterrent to like-minded persons.
According to the persecutors, Chief Inspector Alice Parker Wilson and Inspector Agbemordzi, the ex-solder was, until his conviction, an employee of a private security firm.
The prosecutors said when the police got to Kumbri’s house at Kwesimintsim upon a tip-off, he was caught busily working on Indian hemp in his kitchen.
Kumbri was arrested and charged with the offence, while the others were arrested in their ghettos around Top 10 in Takoradi and other parts of the region.
Fatao was arrested on board a passenger vehicle in a joint police-CEPS operation at Nyamebekyere Barrier on the Takoradi-Elubo road about 11 p.m.
The prosecutors said when the driver was asked to open the boot of the vehicle for inspection, Fatao got down and took to his heels but he was later arrested by some members of the community.
A search in the car boot revealed a mini sack and a suitcase containing cannabis weighing 3.70kg.
Abu was arrested at Mpataba with two mini bags, four compressed parcels and 61 wrapped pieces of Indian hemp.
The remaining convicts were charged on their own pleas and sentenced accordingly. A search on them revealed 13 wrapped pieces of dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp, 79 wrapped pieces and powdery substance suspected to be narcotic drugs.
Apart from the six convicted persons, the same court convicted 21 others between the ages of 18 and 35 to sentences between 10 and 20 years for drug-related offences.
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