The Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) says it is working to arrest Ghanaian accomplices following the arrest of a Syrian man in Lebanon with close to 40kg of suspected cocaine concealed in two pieces of luggage after arriving from Accra, Ghana.
NACOC in a statement on Sunday confirmed the arrest was made on Saturday, October 31, 2026, following a coordinated controlled-delivery operation involving Ghanaian and Lebanese drug law enforcement authorities.
“As part of ongoing operation, NACOC is working to arrest his accomplices in Ghana,” the statement noted.
The latest arrest has reignited the growing conversation around drug busts and Ghana being a major drug transit hub in West Africa.
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The Member of Parliament for Atiwa East, Abena Osei-Asare, has renewed calls for an independent, bipartisan parliamentary inquiry into the recent cocaine seizures linked to Ghana. She also questioned the government’s handling of drug trafficking investigations and the effectiveness of measures introduced to combat the illicit trade.
“NACOC calls the arrest a “controlled delivery”, yet says it is still pursuing the accomplices in Ghana. Arrests need not be simultaneous. But why publicise the operation while those accomplices remain at large? Are we trying to catch them or warn them?
“If the shipment was detected and deliberately allowed through, what arrangements were made to secure the people behind it in Ghana? The Mahama government cannot claim credit for coordination while avoiding scrutiny of the results. Who organised this shipment? Who financed it? What has become of the earlier investigations?,” she questioned on Facebook.
In September, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin rejected a motion by Minority MPs for a bi-partisan probe into the recent drug seizures linked to Ghana.
“The combined effects of undertaking this evaluation, assessment and investigation would be, at the end of the day, to determine the very issues that the court of competent Jurisdiction is supposed to determine,” Bagbin had argued.
However on this latest arrest of the Syrian national, security analyst Richard Kumadoe has disclosed that Ghanaian authorities deliberately allowed the suspect to leave the country for Lebanon as part of NACOC’s controlled operation aimed at identifying and arresting other members of the trafficking network.
“A decision was taken between Ghana and the Lebanese authorities deciding on which country has a higher interest in releasing the substance and the individual and it was decided that we needed to send him away without concern. It was a controlled delivery with a tip-off,” Kumadoe said to Accra-based Citi FM.