The Global Organised Crime Index reports that Ghana serves as a transit point for heroin mainly sourced from Afghanistan and cocaine mainly from Brazil. International trafficking networks use the country’s ports and airports to move drugs, while also supplying a domestic market.
Seizures of inbound and outbound heroin shipments show that the drug is often imported by East African nationals, some of which is consumed locally before the majority is repackaged and exported to the United States by Ghanaian nationals. The report alleges that corrupt officials help facilitate heroin trafficking through Ghana’s transport infrastructure.
Heroin distribution and consumption, historically concentrated in Accra and Tema, are believed to have spread across Ghana, including rural communities in the northern regions. The report identifies Ghanaian and Nigerian trafficking groups as influential in expanding the global heroin trade and illicit drug markets across West Africa.
Regarding cocaine, the Index describes Ghanaian organised crime groups as significant participants in international trafficking networks. Brazil remains the primary source country for cocaine imported by sea, often concealed in sugar containers and transported through trans-shipment points such as Spain or Turkey before reaching Ghana’s ports at Tema, and to a lesser extent Takoradi.
The findings also cite law enforcement officials and civil society stakeholders who allege that political protection of illicit markets by sections of government may explain declining cocaine seizures and reduced visibility of trafficking.
