Convicted fashion icon, Ibrahim Siam, the former CEO of Exopa Modeling Agency has advised the youth to avoid getting into trouble with the law whose tentacles he described as "far-reaching and unpredictable".

Siam, jailed last month for 15 years for a narcotic offence, told the Times at the Nsawam Medium Security Prison: “I feel empty and cannot think properly since I was brought here to start a new life as a convict."

The 39-year-old looked despondent as he sat all alone in the parking space of the Prison's administrative block. Speaking exclusively with Times correspondent, Lawrence Markwei, the former CEO of Exopa Modeling Agency, maintains that he has not been given justice, saying everything from the arrest to his conviction was not handled well by the Narcotic Control Board (NACOB) operatives.

Siam is currently undergoing psycho-counselling at the prison's diagnostic centre to help him settle in his new environment.

The diagnostic centre serves as a first point of call for first time convicts who are challenged psychologically in accepting their predicament. They are taken through the rudiments of prison life before their integration with the mainstream inmates. Sima's trial was one of the high profile cases involving a celebrity whose fans trooped to the court at every hearing until his conviction.

He was convicted by the Fast Track High Court March 3, on two counts of attempting to export narcotic drugs and unlawful possession of narcotic drugs. Giving reasons why he thought he was given a wrongful treatment, he said his luggage was checked in six hours before his arrest, during which time anything could have happened to it.

Siam, who was arrested at the Kotoka International Airport for attempting to smuggle to Germany cocaine concealed in four tubers of yam which were part of his luggage, said nobody was ready to listen to that probability, citing other celebrities who he, said had been framed up in the same way.

"To avoid the wrath of the Narcotic Control officials, I admitted ownership of the luggage and its contents under duress," he said.

Siam admitted that life as a prisoner was very challenging, given his glamorous lifestyle as a celebrity, but added "as a Muslim, I have big faith in Allah and will pray for the day I will be released from this place".

He said together with his lawyers, he is looking at many legal options to appeal against the sentence.

Before his arrest on September 7, 2009, Siam had in the previous month organised and dazzled fashion lovers with his 'Ghana Fashion Week' which had featured Boris Kodjoe, the Hollywood super star of a Ghanaian lineage.