The convicts were arrested on their way to Nigeria with marijuana in their possession.
No less than 20 fishermen have been sentenced to one-year imprisonment each for trafficking 13.670 kilograms of marijuana, from Ghana to Nigeria.
Justice Nicholas Oweibo of a Federal High Court in Lagos State, convicted the Ghanaian fishermen after he found them guilty of the charges of conspiracy and unlawful transportation of the hard drug.
The convicts were identified as -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.
Others are Micheal Kofi, Ekon Bentum, Kwesi Amissah, Joshua Huago, Otu Otipeseku, Isaac Yorsson and Nana Kodwo.
The convicts were arrested on Monday, January 14, 2022, while transporting the marijuana from Ghana into Nigeria via the countries’ territorial waterways.
Arguing that the accused should be sentenced to prison, Fingere Owen, a prosecutor, told the court that the offences were contrary to and punishable under sections 11(b) and 14(b) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act Cap. N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.
Pleading guilty to the charges, lawyers to the convicts, Uche Okoronkwo, who led Calistus Onyewueke, both of Minerva Legal Practice, stated that they were all first time offenders without previous criminal records.
Okoronkwo, however, maintained that his clients were fishermen, who were engaged by a purported customer, who did not tell them the content of the bag.
Having heard Okoronkwo’s plea, Justice Oweibo ordered that the convicts’ prison sentences must commence from the date of their arrest.
The judge also directed that the convicts could pay the sum of N50,000 each in lieu of the sentence, as he ordered that the boat used in smuggling the banned substance be forfeited to the Federal Government.
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