While the wife allegedly adds the substance to locally brewed gin (Akpeteshie), which she retails at home, the man is said to have trained his 19-year-old daughter in senior high school to retail the banned substance in slum areas in the municipality.
The names of the suspects were given as James Essien, 41, Deborah Cudjoe, 36, who is a nursing mother, and their daughter, Diana Essien. After their arrest, the man, who was said to have confessed the crime to the police, was remanded in police custody, together with his daughter, but his wife was granted bail because she was nursing a one-and-a-half year-old child.
The daughter was returning home after allegedly selling some of the Indian hemp when the arrest took place. When she was searched, GH¢10.50 was found on her and it was suspected to be the proceeds from the sale of the hemp.
She was alleged to also possess a container which had 55 wrappers of the substance in it. A search of the family’s house by the police was said to have revealed seven huge parcels of a substance suspected to be wee in a black plastic bag.
In addition, in the wife’s retail shop in their house was a huge yellow plastic container holding several gallons of Akpeteshie mixed with the dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the Tarkwa Divisional Commander, Chief Superintendent Kojo Antwi, who confirmed the story, said the police had a tip-off that James Essien was dealing in drugs with the whole family.
Source Ghana Graphic
