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Ghana acquits Brits over coke
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GHANA'S Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously acquitted and freed two British nationals who had each been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for cocaine smuggling.
John David Logan, 43, and Frank Lavelrick, 43, were among six people convicted in October 2004, the Ghana News Agency reported. |
US citizen Kevin Gorman, 59, Ghanaian citizen Mohammed Ibrahim Kamil, Briton Alan Hodson, 45, and German citizen Sven Herb, 45, were also convicted.
The prosecution had said the narcotics control board and the drug enforcement unit of the police service raided Gorman's residence in 2004 and discovered bales and parcels of whitish substances suspected to be cocaine concealed in a specially constructed compartment in a wall behind a large dressing mirror.
They had faced charges of conspiracy and possessing 588.33kg of cocaine without lawful authority. Gorman, Hodson and Lavelrick were also charged with importing narcotic drugs without a licence from the ministry of health.
Their convictions had been upheld by the Court of Appeal in November 2005. In June 2006, they appealed to the Supreme Court.
The court on Wednesday reversed the decision of the Court of Appeal and the High Court which had ruled that a prima facie case had been made against Logan and
Lavelrick.
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