Wee Boss Jailed

A 62-YEAR-old man, Louis Osei Manu, also known as Joe Louis, who was arrested for having in possession 138 parcels of cannabis sativa (wee), a narcotic drug, has been sentenced to 12 years imprisonment in hard labour.

Joe Louis, the convict, had pleaded not guilty to a charge of possessing narcotics without lawful authority but the court, presided over by Francis Obiri, found him culpable of the crime and sentenced him accordingly.

Prosecution, in making a case against the accused called in three witnesses including the investigator. According to the judge, the prosecutor was able to prove a case against him beyond reasonable doubt while the accused person who testified alone did not have a strong defence.

According to facts available to the court, the accused person was arrested at Avenor by officers from the Narcotics Unit of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in Accra after they had information that the accused was trading in narcotics.

Joe Louis reportedly traded in the illicit business for over 20 years and had been on the police wanted list until he was smoked out from his residence.

Joyce Debrah represented the state while George Asomaney represented the accused.

According to the prosecution, on Friday March 11, 2011, police had information that Joe Louis had just received some cannabis sativa (wee) consignment which had been off-loaded into a storeroom in his residence for onward distribution to retailers in Accra.

Based on the information, officials from CID Narcotics Unit mounted surveillance in the area and eventually captured Joe Louis at his Avenor residence.

A search conducted in his room revealed the 138 parcels wrapped in cement paper, 16 maxi sacks, three half fertilizer bag sizes and eight parcels wrapped with cello tape, all full of dried leaves suspected to be high quality cannabis.

The police also found several empty polythene bags and jute sacks, whose content were suspected to have been sold out.

The dried leaves were destroyed after testing positive for Indian hemp.

According to the police, Joe Louis was a notorious drug dealer who managed to obtain bail in 1996 when he appeared before an Accra court for a similar offence.