A 32-year-old Nigerian, Pascal Okafor Ezugwu, has been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment by a High Court in Accra for attempting to traffic 1.54 kilogramme of cocaine out of the country.
The convict was arrested at the Kotoka International Airport on suspicion and was later found in possession of 90 thumb-sized cocaine pellets which weighed 1.54 kg.
His conviction comes in the wake of the court finding him guilty of three counts of unlawful possession, attempted exportation of narcotic drugs and money laundering.
He was sentenced to a minimum of 10 years in prison in hard labour and was also fined a total of GH¢120,000 in default of which he will serve additional three years in prison.
The court also ordered the destruction of the cocaine, which will be supervised by all the interested stakeholders in the presence of the court registrar, state prosecutors and the defence counsel.
Mr. Okafor Ezugwu was arrested on February 21, 2024 by officers of the Narcotic Control Commission (NACOC) at the Kotoka International Airport when he was going through pre-boarding formalities at the departure hall to board a flight to Hanoi, Vietnam.
A urine test conducted on him revealed traces of narcotic substances. He later expelled a total of 90 thumb-sized pellets during observation by officers, where a field test of the pellets proved positive for cocaine.
He was subsequently detained and later charged with three counts of narcotic offences relating to unlawful possession, attempted exportation of narcotic drugs and money laundering.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak