Two British teenage girls convicted for smuggling cocaine in Ghana have been jailed for one year, but they could be freed within months because they have been in custody since last year.
Accra's juvenile court showed leniency in sentencing Yasemin Vatansever and Yatunde Diya, both 16, to one-year prison terms after recommendations from social services. They had faced possible jail terms of up to three years.
Vatansever and Diya were arrested on 2 July at Accra's Kotoka airport after Ghanaian anti-drugs officers said they found 6kg of cocaine in two laptop bags they were carrying as they boarded a flight to Britain.
Ghanaian law allows for the possibility that individuals sentenced to one year in jail can be freed after serving nine months, so the girls, who have been in custody since July, could be released in early April, lawyers said.
'Both sides are satisfied with the trial ... The message is clear. When you are caught with narcotics, the law will deal with you and that is what we want society to know,' prosecution lawyer Evelyn Keelson said.
