Four persons have appeared before an Accra High Court for their alleged roles in the importation of cannabis sativa concealed in a gift box without lawful authority.
The accused include Godfred Mishiame, a motor rider, and three others; Zion Sam Kish, Prince Sefa Boakye, and Dennis Smith, who are currently at large.
They have been charged with conspiracy to commit crime and importation of narcotic drugs without a licence issued by the Minister of Health.
Mishiame is additionally facing four counts of possession of narcotic drugs for trafficking without lawful authority.
He is alleged to have had in his possession a quantity of cocaine when his residence was searched.
Mishiame has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
The court admitted him to bail in the sum of GHC100,000, with three sureties, two of whom are to be justified.
One of the sureties, the court ordered, should be a public servant earning not less than GHC30,000.
It directed the prosecution to file its disclosures on or before January 12, 2026, while Mishiame is also to file the names of his witnesses by the same date.
The prosecution said on August 4, 2025, officers of the Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) stationed at the Ghana Post Office in Accra intercepted a parcel during a routine inspection of inbound EMS parcels, on suspicion that it concealed narcotic drugs.
The parcel, which was described as containing “varied clothing”, was flagged for further investigations.
On August 5, NACOC officers, acting on intelligence, arrested Joshua Mills, a clearing agent, who was found in possession of the parcel’s tracking number and authority note.
Mills told investigators that he had been instructed to clear the parcel.
The parcel was opened in his presence and found to contain five vacuum-sealed plant-like substances.
A field test conducted on the substances tested positive for Delta-9 Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a narcotic drug.
Further investigations revealed that Mills had been contracted by Zion Sam Kish, the second accused person, to clear the parcel and forward it to Esther Naa Dede Armah at a hostel in Haatso. Mills, however, denied knowledge of the contents of the parcel and assisted with investigations.
The court heard that Esther, during interrogation, said Kish had instructed her to receive the parcel, which was to be collected later by a delivery person.
She also denied knowledge of the parcel’s contents and assisted investigators. Later the same day, Mishiame arrived on a motorbike to collect the parcel. He was arrested after opening it and confirming its contents.
During his arrest, Mishiame allegedly sent a message to Kish, alerting him to the presence of the police.
On August 7, a search conducted at Mishiame’s residence led to the discovery of 11 branded packets of plant material suspected to be cannabis, 30 wraps of plant-like material, and one packet of whitish substance suspected to be cocaine. The others were 42 empty bottles of Benylin containing codeine-based syrup, a weighing scale, packaging materials, and other drug paraphernalia.
A Royal motorbike and cash of GHC864 were also seized. Mishiame has denied ownership of the seized narcotics.
The alleged drugs were forwarded to the Ghana Standards Authority for analytical examination. The plant materials tested positive for cannabis sativa, with a total net weight of 1,218.29 grammes, while the whitish substance tested positive for cocaine, with a net weight of 0.52 grammes.
Source: GNA
