Following a long haul with the police in the UK, the four Ghanaian men who were arrested for smuggling 1.5 tons of cannabis valued at £4.5 million have finally been sentenced to prison.
Adjei, Yeboah, Bonsu, and Baidoo received sentences of four, five, seven, and ten years, respectively.
According to reports, Adjei and Yeboah attended their sentencing at Southwark Crown Court, but Baidoo and Bonsu failed to appear and are currently on the run.
Each of these men played a crucial role in facilitating every step in their operation until the final stage where they were arrested.
Background
The interception of the drugs in the UK was the result of intelligence shared by the Ghanaian Narcotics Control Commission with the UK’s National Crime Agency.
When border officers searched the container at Tilbury Docks, they discovered 2,335 packages of cannabis hidden inside white hessian sacks of gari, with an estimated street value of approximately £4.3 million.
Following the discovery, officers replaced the drugs with a fake package containing a tracker, allowing them to monitor the container’s movement to an industrial yard in North London.
Yeboah, who signed the delivery note with a fake signature, was met by the workers at the yard, who used an angle grinder to remove the container seal.
Bonsu was seen circling the yard in his car, photographing the container, while Adjei was observed dropping Baidoo off at the site.
Realising the drugs were missing, the group fled in different vehicles, abandoning the load shortly after the container was opened.
Officers then gave them a hot chase and arrested them later that day: Yeboah and Adjei were arrested in Homerton, Baidoo in Stratford, and Bonsu in Edmonton.
What the aftermath investigations revealed
At Baidoo’s residence, a 10-tonne hydraulic press, often used for compressing drugs, was discovered, along with various electronic devices, including mobile phones and dash cams.
Footage from Adjei’s dashcam revealed he contacted Baidoo and Yeboah shortly after the container’s arrival at the yard.
During one call, he advised Yeboah to be cautious, stating, “My brother, be a little watchful. It is all a little dodgy.” Yeboah later expressed concerns that the drugs were missing, saying, “I don’t think the food [drugs] is in it” and that “they have removed most of the gari. The people are thieves.”
Text messages and emails found on Baidoo’s phone outlined his plan to receive the drugs at the yard, which he had rented under a false name to conceal his identity.
Also, Bonsu’s bank account showed multiple payments to a shipping company for transporting the container from Tilbury Docks to the North London yard.
Bags of cannabis seized by officers (Image: National Crime Agency)
The shipping container and Gari sacks containing cannabis discovered by NCA officers (Image: National Crime Agency)
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