Court sentences trader 10 years for possessing narcotics

An Accra Circuit Court has sentenced a 39-year-old petty trader to ten years imprisonment in hard labour for unlawful possession of narcotics.

Samuel Hagan, alias “Tuga,” denied the offence but he was found culpable after trial.

Police Chief Inspector Benson Benneh told the Court presided over by Mrs Evelyn Asamoah that

complainants in this case were Police Officers stationed at Mamprobi and Hagan was a petty trader who lived at Dansoman Beach Road.

On the February 4, 2022 at about 1800 hours, Mamprobi Police command embarked on an operation to arrest suspected drug peddlers and users within its jurisdiction, he told the Court.

Chief Inspector Benneh said the team, acting on a tip off, went to a ghetto at Dansoman Beach where undercover men were placed among the people present, adding that whilst there, Hagan, the convict, was spotted with a multi-coloured polythene bag containing wrappers of dried plant materials suspected to be narcotic drugs which he was selling out.

Prosecution said the team was called in and convict was arrested with 42 wrappers of dried plant materials suspected to be narcotic drugs.

He said convict together with the exhibits were sent to the station for investigation.

Chief Inspector Benneh said Hagan claimed ownership of the 42 dried plant materials suspected to be narcotic drugs and that he was selling them.

He said cautioned statement was obtained from convict and the exhibit forwarded to Police Forensic Science Laboratory for examination.

The Court heard that Hagan was charged with the offence and put before court as the laboratory result came out positive.

Source: GNA