The Greater Accra Regional Tribunal on Tuesday 13 May 2008 sentenced Kwasi Ntim Gyakari Boadu, a 31-year-old businessman, to 12 years’ imprisonment with hard labour for attempting to export cannabis and possessing 232 grammes of the drug.[1] Boadu pleaded not guilty, declined to mitigate when given the chance, and told the court he had done nothing wrong.[1]

Prosecutors said Narcotics Control Board officers were alerted on 16 May 2005 after a courier company in Osu, UPS Express Service, found a parcel brought in three days earlier and meant for Seychelles contained a suspected narcotic drug.[1] Officers asked the company to call the parcel’s owner, and one David Benefo arrived, paid the postage and was arrested as he collected it; questioned, he said Boadu, the parcel’s owner, was waiting in a car outside.[1] Boadu sped off on seeing the officers, abandoned his car at Tesano, and was finally arrested on 27 June 2005 after officers detained Yaw Kumi, the mechanic sent to retrieve the car.[1] In his investigation statement Boadu admitted owning the parcel and said he was posting the drugs to one Antonio in Seychelles; analysis confirmed the contents were cannabis weighing 232 grammes.[1]