Tema Court Jails Two Police Officers for 13 years for Drug Trafficking

A Tema Circuit Court has convicted two police officers to a combined 13 years in prison for unlawful possession and conspiracy to traffic narcotic substances.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Nasiru Amadu and Corporal Emmanuel Mintah were found guilty of unlawful possession of narcotics for trafficking, contrary to Section 23(1) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960, and Section 37(2)(b) of the Narcotic Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019).

The court, presided over by Her Ladyship Aleanor Kakra Barnes Botchway, sentenced them to 10 and 5 years, respectively, to run concurrently.

They were also fined 10,000 penalty units (GH¢120,000) each, or in default, serve an additional three years in prison.

Case
According to the prosecution, led by ASP Ernest Kuofie, some officers on snap-check duty received intelligence that a Nissan Navara with registration number GP 727 was transporting narcotics from Ho to Accra on November 19, 2023.

At about 7:15 p.m., the now convicted officers arrived at the checkpoint with the described vehicle.

A search conducted in their vehicle uncovered eight sacks containing 541 compressed parcels of narcotics, as confirmed by the Forensic Crime Laboratory.

Investigations further revealed that Mintah had a relative—popularly known as “Oluman”—a resident of Ashaiman Tulaku and a known narcotics dealer. On the day of the incident, Mintah had been contracted by “Oluman” to transport Indian hemp from Peki Tsibu in the Volta Region to Tulaku. Mintah contacted Amadu, who also communicated with “Oluman” to finalise the arrangement.

The two officers then drove vehicle GP 727 from Sakumono to a forest near Peki Tsibu, where they received the drugs from a Benz bus. They were arrested on their way back to Accra. It later emerged that this was the second time the officers had engaged in such an operation.

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