Siblings discharged over narcotics charge

Tema, Aug 17, GNA - Lamisi Baba, 30, and her brother, John Awuni, 38, who were arrested for possessing substances suspected to be narcotics, were on Thursday discharged by the Tema Circuit 'A' presided over by Mrs Laurine Owusu.

Chief Inspector Adolphus Otchere, prosecuting, told the court that upon a thorough inquiry by a team of investigators who visited the crime scene at Site two in Tema Community One, the charge of possessing narcotics had been withdrawn against them.

Other sellers and onlookers at the crime scene said during the swoop, they saw the smokers running away while throwing the polythene bags with its contents towards different directions, adding that the mother of twins and his brother, a staff of the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA), are decent people in the vicinity incapable of the charged offence.

The Metropolitan Engineer of TMA, Mr Victor Mensah gave the investigators a testimonial of Awuni to clear him of the charges. The prosecutor told the court that on July 12, the Tema Police Regional Command mounted a swoop at Site two following frequent reports of people converging near a public washroom where narcotic substance are sold, purchased and smoked.

He said during the operation, the team found a black polythene bag containing substances suspected to be drugs under Baba's provision store painted in blue which was about seven metres away from the washroom.

The prosecutor further stated that Baba and Awuni were arrested when they tried to escape, adding that the police personnel found 210 wrapped substances and some unwrapped quantities of the substance in the black polythene bag which were later forwarded to a crime laboratory in Accra for examination.