1,500 bags of smuggled cocoa intercepted
Ghana’s cocoa industry, one of the country’s key economic sectors, has been plagued by smuggling for many years. However, recent efforts by the Ghana Cocoa Board’s (COCOBOD) Anti-smuggling Task Force, in collaboration with security agencies, have yielded positive results in the fight against this illegal activity.
Within just two weeks in March, over 1,500 bags of cocoa were retrieved en route to neighboring countries. The beans originated from the Western North and Volta regions, while arrests were made in the Greater Accra, Volta, and Western North regions during transit of the cocoa beans.
The success in tackling cocoa smuggling has been attributed to a system instituted by COCOBOD, which includes incentives for collaborators. This approach appears to have encouraged the public to provide valuable information, leading to the seizure of smuggled cocoa and arrests of the perpetrators.
In one instance, the Mamprobi Police Unit intercepted 508 bags of standard cocoa beans and 72 bags of cocoa waste beans in the Greater Accra region. The driver of the truck transporting the beans alleged that he was contracted at a lorry station to load the cocoa beans to Accra. He was in the process of re-bagging the beans from jute sacks into polythene sacks to evade security checks when he was arrested.
Similarly, in the Western North region, COCOBOD’s Anti-Smuggling Taskforce saved about 399 bags of cocoa beans from smugglers who were carting them from Dunkwa-on-Offin and Sefwi Bekwai to Ivory Coast. The trucks with registration numbers AS 885 – 19 and AS 7457 – 17 were impounded while the drivers were granted police enquiry bail pending further investigations.
Additionally, a 42-year-old Nigerian national, Isaac Oluwaje, who claimed ownership of 406 bags of cocoa beans, was arrested while being conveyed to Togo through the Volta region. He claimed to have bought the cocoa through a business contact in the Western North region for reselling in Togo. He and the driver of the truck with registration number GX 7632 – 14 had rebagged some of the cocoa beans in poly sacks to avoid detection. Both are still in police custody after failing to meet bail conditions.
In the Volta region, a Circuit Court in Denu has remanded two suspected cocoa smugglers into custody. The suspects, acclaimed owner of the beans, Ebenezer Tetteh, and a truck driver, Francis Awuah, were arrested on March 13 following a collaborative operation between COCOBOD and the Aflao Command of the National Investigation Bureau. The truck with registration number GX 8579 – 22 moved uninterrupted through the Tema Motorway in the Greater Accra region to the Volta region, where they were arrested while crossing Ghana’s major border post to Togo.
The success of these efforts is vital for the Ghanaian economy, as the country’s cocoa industry is facing significant challenges, including over-aged plants and climate change. Ghana recorded a shortfall of 300,000 metric tonnes of cocoa in the 2021/2022 crop season, the lowest in 15 years. The fear is that smugglers would worsen the shortfall in the current crop year if not nipped in the bud.
Moreover, cocoa smuggling between Ghana and Ivory Coast is a common occurrence, with the direction shifting back and forth depending on the price difference between the two countries. Ivory Coast recently raised its cocoa producer price per bag by nine percent, from 825 to 900 CFA francs. The cedi equivalent of the 900 CFA Franc per bag of cocoa weighing 64 kilograms gross is GH₵850.
