LONDON, England (CNN) -- A juvenile court in Ghana has sentenced two teenage girls from Great Britain to nine months in jail for trying to smuggle cocaine out of the country, Ghana's national news agency said Wednesday.

The girls were stopped by customs officials at Accra trying to smuggle drugs back to Britain.

The 16-year-olds will not have to serve the full sentence because they have already spent more than six months in jail, a British Foreign Office spokesman said.

Fair Trials International, a UK-based group that provided legal assistance to the pair, said in a statement Wednesday that it will decide in the coming days whether to appeal. The girls faced a maximum sentence of three years but are expected to be released on April 18, the group said.

For now, the girls are housed in a correctional home for girls in the country's capital, Accra.

Ghanaian police arrested the teenagers as they were readying to board a British Airways flight back to London last July.

When officials searched their laptop bags as part of departure formalities, they found about 6 kg (13 lbs) of cocaine, the Ghana News Agency and British media reports said.

Authorities in Ghana said a man paid the girls 6,000 pounds (about $11,700) to fly to Ghana to retrieve the laptop bags containing the drugs from two of his associates, the news agency added.

Those men have not been caught.

Fair Trials called the girls "pawns in a larger operation.

"It is deeply unfortunate that they, and not the men who lured them to Ghana, are bearing the consequences," said the group's chief executive, Catherine Wolthuizen.

Ghana and other West African countries have become a transit point for drugs headed to Europe. The girls were arrested in a joint Britain-Ghana drug detection operation, the United Kingdom's customs agency said Wednesday. E-mail to a friend
Where was the duo arrested? Who is unlikely to serve? Where were the girls from, specifically? Who arrested the girls? Who were sentenced? Where were the girls arrested? How long have the girls already been in jail for? How long was she in jail? What did the teen smuggle? How old were the teens?
Accra The 16-year-olds Great Britain customs officials at Accra two teenage girls from Great Britain Accra more than six months more than six months cocaine 16-year-olds
question: Where was the duo arrested?, answer: Accra | question: Who is unlikely to serve?, answer: The 16-year-olds | question: Where were the girls from, specifically?, answer: Great Britain | question: Who arrested the girls?, answer: customs officials at Accra | question: Who were sentenced?, answer: two teenage girls from Great Britain | question: Where were the girls arrested?, answer: Accra | question: How long have the girls already been in jail for?, answer: more than six months | question: How long was she in jail?, answer: more than six months | question: What did the teen smuggle?, answer: cocaine | question: How old were the teens?, answer: 16-year-olds