COKE TRAFFICKERS JAILED

THREE men were yesterday sentenced to a total of 34 years imprisonment by the Greater Accra Regional Tribunal for various narcotic offences.
They are Joseph Arthur Aggrey, who was jailed 14 years, and Albert Acquah and Emmanuel Asante, who were jailed 10 years each.
All the convicts were charged with two counts each of attempted exportation of narcotic drugs and possession of narcotic drugs.
Aggrey pleaded not guilty but at the end of the trial the court found him guilty on both counts and convicted him.
In the case of Acquah and Asante, they pleaded guilty to the two counts and they were accordingly convicted and sentenced on their own pleas.
According to the facts of the case, as narrated by the prosecution, Aggrey was a native of Ajumako Besease in the Central Region but was domiciled in Spain.
He was arrested at the Kotoka International Airport at about 8.30 p.m. on January 3, this year when he was going through departure formalities to board a flight to Spain.
Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) officials at the airport arrested Aggrey on suspicion of carrying narcotics and he was sent to the 37 Military Hospital where he expelled 85 pellets of the substance, weighing 955.45 grammes.
Aggrey was said to have told NACOB officials that he bought the substance from some Nigerians at the Christian Village, near Legon in Accra, for 8,000 Euros.
In the case of Acquah, he was arrested at the airport on November 26, last year when he was also going through departure formalities to board a flight to Spain.
He expelled 29 pellets of the substance, weighing 406.86 grammes, at the 37 Military Hospital after telling NACOB officials that he swallowed the pellets with okro soup.
Asante was arrested at the airport on February 10, this year while going through departure formalities to board a flight to Amsterdam.
He expelled 87 pellets of the substance, weighing 786.87 grammes.