The Minority in Parliament is demanding answers over the failure to identify and prosecute the alleged financiers and principal traffickers behind a US$350 million cocaine shipment seized at Pedu Junction in Cape Coast.
The Ranking Member on the Defence and Interior Committee, Rev. Ntim Fordjour, said more than a year after the seizure, only the driver, a housemaid and a small number of peripheral suspects have been arraigned and remain on bail.
He questioned why those allegedly behind the shipment have not been identified or punished.
“In the Pedu Junction matter, more than a year after the seizure, it is only the driver, a housemaid, and a small handful of peripheral suspects who have been arraigned and remain on bail, while the actual financiers and high-profile dealers behind a US$350 million cocaine shipment remain unidentified and unpunished.”
The National Intelligence Bureau intercepted the tipper truck on March 4, 2025, following a tip-off. The vehicle was carrying more than 3.3 tonnes of cocaine concealed beneath sand and was travelling from Takoradi to Accra.
A second consignment involving about 120 slabs of cocaine, valued at approximately US$150 million, was also intercepted along the Takoradi–Cape Coast highway.
Rev. Fordjour said the development formed part of a wider pattern of major narcotics seizures linked to Ghana under the NDC government.
On August 5, 2026, the Tema Regional Police Command seized 866 parcels of suspected cocaine concealed in sacks of gari at a warehouse within the Tema Harbour enclave. The consignment was valued at US$6.9 million.
He also cited foreign seizures linked to Ghana, including 320kg of methamphetamine valued at US$261 million seized by Australian customs authorities in June 2026.
On September 10, 2026, Reuters reported that French customs officers at the port of Dunkirk seized nearly 3.9 metric tonnes of cocaine, valued at more than US$260 million, in a container of plastic waste that had departed Ghana.
Rev. Fordjour said major narcotics seizures linked to Ghana under the current administration now amount to more than US$1 billion in less than two years.
He argued that the situation raises questions about how much narcotics could be moving through Ghana undetected.
“International drug enforcement agencies have long estimated that only around one in every ten consignments of trafficked narcotics is ever intercepted.”
He said the pattern of prosecuting couriers, drivers, mates and freight-forwarding agents while the alleged owners remain free raises serious concerns about the effectiveness of investigations.
“This pattern — in which couriers, drivers, mates, and freight-forwarding agents are paraded before the courts while the true owners of these consignments walk free — raises serious questions about the seriousness, independence, and reach of investigations under this Government.”
The Minority is therefore demanding a full-scale, independent Parliamentary inquiry into the possible complicity, negligence or failure of oversight by key security and transport agencies.
It wants sector Ministers and agency heads summoned before Parliament to account for the status of investigations into the seizures and explain why prosecutions have so far targeted low-level couriers rather than financiers and principal traffickers.
The Minority is also demanding answers over the release of the MV Sankofa and measures being taken to protect Ghana’s ports, airports and territorial waters.
“Ghana’s international reputation, and the safety of our young people from the scourge of narcotics, cannot be held hostage to official silence or political convenience.”
“The Minority will not relent until the truth is known and those found responsible are held accountable.”
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