Accra, June 27, GNA - A businessman who concealed 367.5 grammes of cocaine in his pair of shoes and attempted exporting it to Portugal was on Friday sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment by the Greater Accra Regional Tribunal.

Ibrahim Abdul-Karim charged with attempted exportation of narcotic drugs without license and possessing cocaine without authority changed his plea to guilty and the tribunal convicted him accordingly. The facts as presented by Mr Edward Agyeman Duodu, Principal State Attorney, the prosecutor, were that Abdul-Karim, a Ghanaian who lived in Portugal, came to Ghana in May 2006.

On July 15, 2006, he arrived at the Kotoka International Airport to board a KLM flight to Amsterdam and as he was going through departure formalities, security personnel searched him and found two parcels of whitish powdery substances suspected be cocaine concealed in the pair of shoes he was wearing.

The substance was field-tested by officials of the Narcotics Control Board and proved positive for cocaine. The prosecutor said the substance was sealed in the presence of Abdul-Karim and forwarded to the Ghana Standards Board (GSB) for analysis and was confirmed as cocaine.