The Nalerigu Circuit Court has sentenced two men to 10 years imprisonment each for possessing restricted pharmaceutical drugs without lawful authority.
Mumuni Iddrisu and Alhassan Braimah were convicted after pleading guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit crime and possession of restricted drugs.
Presiding judge, Justice Francis Asobayire, handed down 10 years each on the two counts. The court also imposed a fine of 5,000 penalty units, equivalent to GH¢60,000, on each convict. In default of the fine, they are to serve an additional 10 years in prison.
The convicts have been sent to the Gambaga local prison to begin their sentences.
A statement from the North East Regional Police Headquarters, issued on September 27, 2025, said the sentences followed the arrest of six persons at Gbintiri near Nalerigu on September 18, 2025.
The six were arrested in connection with 1,195 boxes of tramadol hydrochloride 120mg, popularly called “Red,” a restricted drug.
The following day, the suspects were arraigned before the Nalerigu Circuit Court and remanded. Investigations revealed that 100 boxes of tramadol were in the possession of Iddrisu and Braimah.
Police also found that the two had hidden more than 4,500 packs of the drug in 25 yellow gallons.
On September 26, 2025, the six appeared in court again. Iddrisu and Braimah pleaded guilty and were convicted, while the other four, Yakubu Muntaka, Abdulai Shakur, Mumuni Yakubu, and Moses Ayorik, were discharged for lack of evidence.
The statement, signed by Deputy Superintendent of Police Robert Anabiik Anmain of the Public Relations Unit, acknowledged the support of residents, particularly the Nalerigu Youth Association, in the arrest and prosecution of the offenders.
The Police also warned individuals involved in the illicit drug trade in the region to desist from the practice, stating that those arrested would face the full rigours of the law.
The statement noted that the Police, working with the Narcotics Control Commission in the North East Region, secured the conviction of the two men.
It added that the Northern Regional Police Command would continue to intensify operations against drug trafficking in the area.
