On Thursday, August 4, 2022, the Federal High Court in Lagos State, Nigeria, condemned 20 Ghanaian fishermen to one year in prison. The men were imprisoned for shipping 13.670 kilograms of cannabis, sometimes known as marijuana, from Ghana to Nigeria. According to Nigeria’s Punch, the court convicted them guilty of conspiring to smuggle the medication illegally.
Francis Teye, Kweke Komel, Gad Adjah, Theophilus Tetteh, Kwesi Aboagye, Ekon Fynn, Kwamena Baah, Kwabina Adjei, Micheal Okutu, Isaac Kofi, Kweku Moko, Kwezi Adzi, and Kweku Mensah are among the fisherman who have been found guilty. Others include Nana Kodwo, Isaac Yorsson, Otu Otipeseku, Joshua Huago, Michael Kofi, Ekon Bentum, and Kwesi Amissah.
On January 14, 2022, the aforementioned individuals were apprehended in Nigerian territorial waters with drugs coming from Ghana. Mr. Fingere Owen, the prosecutor, claimed in court that their actions violated and were punishable by sections 11(b) and 14(b) of the Nigerian National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act Cap. N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, which established the agency. However, the defendants entered guilty pleas while pleading with the court for leniency because they were first-time offenders.
After engaging a customer, the fishermen’s attorney claimed they were unaware of the contents of their bag. Based on this, Justice Nicholas Oweibo sentenced them to one-year imprisonment. He also ordered that the convicts pay the sum of N50,000 each in lieu of the sentence and ordered that the boat used in smuggling the banned substance be forfeited to the Federal Government.
