The Greater Accra Regional Tribunal yesterday sentenced a Nigerian trader to 10 years' imprisonment for importing cocaine into the country without lawful authority.

Margaret Etim Sunday, 38, pleaded not guilty to two counts of importing and possessing narcotic drugs without lawful authority but changed her plea to guilty and was convicted accordingly.

According to the facts of the case, the convict, on January 29, last year, arrived at the Kotoka International Airport aboard a United Arab Emirates flight.

At the airport, officers of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) were on duty and after inspecting Margaret?s travelling documents, they became suspicious of her behaviour and trailed her outside the airport.

The NACOB officials said Margaret, on leaving the arrival hall, quickly jumped into a taxi but she was arrested and handed over to the police.

When she was sent to the 37 Military Hospital, an X-ray scan revealed that she had swallowed 60 pellets of suspected substances believed to be narcotics.