(1) Whenever any complaint is made to a consular officer of Ghana that

(a) any offence against the property or a person has been committed at any place, either ashore or afloat outside Ghana by any seafarer who at the time when the offence was committed or within three months before that time was employed on a Ghanaian ship; or

(b) an offence on the high seas has been committed by a seafarer belonging to a Ghanaian registered ship,

the consular officer may inquire into the case upon oath, and may if necessary, take any steps in the power of the consular officer for the purpose of placing the offender under the necessary restraint and of sending the offender as soon as practicable in safe custody to Ghana.

(2) The consular officer may order the master of a ship registered in and bound for Ghana to receive and give passage and subsistence during the voyage to the offender and as many witnesses as can be given suitable accommodation.

(3) The consular officer may endorse upon the agreement with the crew of the ship the particulars with respect to an offender or witness sent in the ship as the Authority requires.

(4) A master of a ship to whose charge an offender has been so committed shall on the arrival of the ship in Ghana hand the offender over into the custody of a police officer, who shall take the offender before a court to deal with the matter as in cases of offences committed upon the high seas.

(5) A master of a Ghanaian ship who when required by any consular officer to receive and give passage and subsistence to an offender or witness, does not do so or who does not deliver an offender committed to the charge of that master into the custody of a police officer as directed commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding 250 penalty units or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding 12 months or to both.

(6) The expense of imprisoning an offender and of conveying the offender and a witness to Ghana in a manner other than in the ship to which they respectively belong, shall where the expenses are not paid as part of the costs of the prosecution, be paid out of Government funds.