First Deputy Minority Whip Habib Iddrisu has called for the arrest and interrogation of Customs officers who were on duty when a container, later found to contain nearly 3.9 tonnes of cocaine, left Ghana for France. He said questioning the officers would help establish how the container passed through Ghana’s port and departed the country without the suspected narcotics being detected.
Speaking on Eyewitness News on Friday, September 18, Mr Iddrisu questioned the circumstances surrounding the shipment and demanded greater accountability from officials involved in the process. “Who processed those containers? Who are those who are exporting it? Who were the officers who are on duty? In fact, I want to further say that every Customs officer within that week, until the containers departed, who were on duty on that day, they should be arrested and be questioned on how this will leave the shores,” he said.
His comments come after French Customs authorities seized nearly 3.9 tonnes of cocaine concealed in a container of plastic waste that arrived at the northern port of Dunkirk from Ghana on Thursday, September 10. The seizure involved cocaine estimated to be worth €225 million, about US$261.45 million.
Mr Iddrisu said the incident raises broader questions about Ghana’s port security, intelligence gathering and the effectiveness of the systems used to screen containers before they leave the country. He also called for a bipartisan parliamentary inquiry into the matter, arguing that officials and institutions with oversight responsibilities must be subjected to proper scrutiny.
Meanwhile, President John Dramani Mahama has ordered the formation of an inter‑agency task force to develop a detailed roadmap to prevent drug trafficking through Ghana’s borders. The task force has two weeks to submit its roadmap following an urgent meeting chaired by the President with security chiefs on Thursday, September 17.
