An Accra Circuit Court has sentenced a vulganiser to 10 years’ imprisonment for possessing narcotic drugs without lawful authority.

Evans Kwame Adablah was arrested on June 15, 2016, at Dansoman in Accra following police intelligence that he was peddling dried leaves suspected to be cannabis.

He was arrested at Dansoman last stop with a black handbag which contained eight compressed parcels of the illegal substance.

According to the police, the convict admitted the offence in his caution statement but vehemently denied it when he was put before court.

He changed his story before the court, stating that he found the substance after a boy had lifted his kiosk from a piece of land after he was ordered to do so.

He said he initially wanted to submit the substance to the police but a friend he identified as Amankwa told him that he could become rich if he sold the substance.

He therefore pleaded with the said Amankwa to help him sell the drugs. It was then that he was arrested by the police.

The court, presided over by Aboagye Tandoh, after weighing the evidence put before him held that the prosecution led by Superintendent of Police Patience Mario was able to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt.

He said the statement by the convict that he found the substance under a lifted kiosk was an afterthought to prevent the law from taking its course.

He held that the forensic lab test result revealed that the substance was indeed cannabis and Evans Kwame Adablah knew what was in his possession.

He found the convict guilty and sentenced him to 10 years’ imprisonment in hard labour.

Mr. Tandoh further ordered the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the police service to destroy the substance in the presence of the court registrar.