ZAMBIAN WOMAN CONVICTED AND FINED BY GHANAIAN COURT FOR SMUGGLING EPHEDRINE

A Zambian businesswoman, Matilda Nkole Kangombe, was in late August this year fined GH¢90,000 (Zambian Kwacha 215,000 or US$18,219) by the Accra High Court for trafficking ephedrine without authorization.

Ms. Kangombe, 47, was convicted on her own plea by the court presided over by Justice Cee Baiden.

She was arrested by operatives of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) of Ghana on Sunday, April 28, 2018, at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) where she was going through departure formalities to board Ethiopian Airline flight NO. ET 819 to Ethiopia enroute Maputo-Mozambique.

Ms. Kangombe was apprehended during a normal routine profiling exercise on passengers by NACOB at the departure lounge.

A preliminary search carried out on her hand luggage revealed nothing incriminating and she was later escorted to the luggage section where she identified a brown ‘Samsonite bag as hers.

Follow-up checks in her presence uncovered a whitish substance wrapped with four mini blankets and two towels. A field test on the exhibit proved positive for the narcotic substances.

Further analytical tests at the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) proved the substance as Ephedrine, a pharmaceutical raw material that is used in the manufacturing of methamphetamine, an illicit drug with a weight value of 25kg.

She was subsequently sent to the Headquarters of NACOB for interrogation where she confirmed ownership of the bag to officers of NACOB, adding that the said bag was given to her by one Ahmed at an unknown hotel to be delivered to a Christian sister of hers in Maputo, Mozambique

She was fined 7,500 penalty units equivalent to GH₵90,000 or 15 years in prison If she defaulted on the payment.