Accra, Sept. 06, GNA – An Accra High Court has sentenced a Liberian national to ten years imprisonment for attempting to smuggle cocaine – a narcotic drug – through the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) to Bangkok, Thailand.
The court presided over by her Ladyship Justice Mary Ekua Yanzuh on August 31, 2022, after the conviction of Ms. Wolo Maikplay Margaret, also fined her ten thousand penalty units.
In default, Ms Maikplay would serve three years additional term.
The accused pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted exportation and possession of a narcotic drug without a Minister of Health license, which violates sections 36 and 37 of the Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), respectively.
The presiding judge found her guilty on her own plea on each count to run concurrently.
Ms. Wolo Maikplay Margaret was apprehended by Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) officers on the 14th of May, 2022, while transiting through Kotoka International Airport (KIA) from Monrovia to Bangkok-Thailand onboard Qatar Airways.
A total of thirty (30) pellets containing cocaine weighing 277.2101grams were retrieved from beneath her breast and vagina when commission officials conducted a physical search on her.
Francis Opoku Amoah, Acting Director of Public Affairs and International Relations Department of the Narcotics Control Commission, in a statement, said officials of the Commission received a tip-off from a sister security agency at Kotoka International Airport (KIA), which led to the retrieval of the pellets of cocaine.
The Commission emphasised that “the possession and attempted transportation of narcotic drugs is still illegal and punishable under domestic law.”
It also assured the public of its continuous commitment to reducing to the barest minimum, the influx and smuggling of all types of narcotic drugs through collaboration with the relevant stakeholders.
GNA