ACCRA, Jan 23: Two British teenage girls convicted for smuggling cocaine in Ghana were jailed for one year on Wednesday, but they could be freed within months because they have been in custody since last year, officials said.

The Accra 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 July 2 at Accra's Kotoka airport after Ghanaian anti-drugs officers said they found 6 kg 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.—Reuters