ACCRA, Nov 5 (Reuters) - A court in Ghana has found a local journalist guilty of libelling the West African nation's First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, court officials said.

Judge Victor Ofoe, announcing his verdict on Thursday, remanded Eben Quarcoo, former editor of the Free Press, in custody until November 11 when he will sentence him.

Quarcoo faces up to three years in jail.

The case dates from 1994 and relates to allegations published in the Free Press that President Jerry Rawlings's wife smuggled gold and drugs on unannounced foreign trips.

Quarcoo argued in his defence that other newspapers had published the allegations before the Free Press and that the allegations were therefore in the public domaine.

The publisher of the Free Press was also charged in connection with the case but died before the end of the trial.