A 25-year-old Fulani herdsman, Osmanu Hadu, aka Buba Aliu, has been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment in hard labour by a Techiman Circuit Court, presided over by Alexander Graham for possessing narcotics.
The court sentenced the convict on his own plea yesterday.
The prosecutor, Chief Superintendent Emmanuel Akornor, told the court that the convict is a herdsman resident at Kramokura, near Atebubu in the Atebubu Amantin District of the Brong Ahafo Region while the complainant is Corporal Henry Adu Gyamfi, a police man stationed at Atebubu.
According to him, on 17th October, 2017, the complainant saw the convict loitering around the Atebubu Police Station at about 2:30 pm and so he accosted him.
He said a search conducted on Osmanu revealed a blue polythene bag containing dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp and lighter.
He was consequently arrested and sent to the Atebubu Police station.
During interrogation, Osman told the police that he found the items in a bush at place called Duabone No 2, near Kramukura.
When Osman was transported to the place, he failed to identify the exact spot where he found the items.
He was conveyed to his house at Kramukura and when his room was searched, the police found dried leaves in polythene bags.
The prosecutor told the court that the accused claimed ownership of the items in the polythene bags and admitted the offence.
The items were sent to the police forensic laboratory in Accra for examination.
The forensic lab, which released the results on 18th January, 2018, said that the items were cannabis with net weight of 12.95 grams and 2.60 grams respectively.
The Attorney General’s Department in Sunyani advised the police to charge the accused with the offence.
Osman was consequently charged with two counts of possessing narcotics without lawful authority contrary to Section 2 (1) of the Narcotic Drugs Law, PNDCL 236, 1990.
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From Daniel Y Dayee, Techiman