Claim: Between 2018 and 2024, not a single drug bust was recorded at the port
Source: Bernard Bediako Baidoo (MP for Akwatia)
Verdict: False
Researched by Gifty Danso
The Member of Parliament for Akwatia, Bernard Bediako Baidoo, has claimed that there were no drug busts at Ghana’s ports under the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo-led administration. He cited the 2018 removal of the Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) from routine port inspection duties as the reason for the situation.
Speaking on TV3’s Key Points programme on September 26, 2026, the MP said, “It will interest you to know that since 2018 till they left office, not a single bust. Not a single bust, not one at that (Tema) port,” while contributing to a discussion on drug trafficking menace. (see from 3:49:27 onwards).
TV3 subsequently shared a flyer with the MP’s comments on X and Facebook, which has been widely interacted with.
RelatedNews
Drug-related busts have become a major topic of public discussion after French customs on September 10, 2026 seized nearly 3.9 tonnes of cocaine that departed Ghana, bound for Antwerp in Belgium.
When confronted with the increasing rate of drug busts, a number of public officials and government communicators have blamed the 2018 decision to remove NACOC from routine port inspections as the reason why authorities failed to detect the shipments in previous years.
This report will verify the Akwatia MP’s claim that since the removal of NACOC in 2018 till 2024, not a single drug bust was recorded under the NPP government.
Fact-check
GhanaFact reviewed news reports following the 2018 decision to remove NACOC from routine port inspections, and found that in September 2020, the Narcotics Control Commission, in a joint operation with the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) and the National Security Council Secretariat, intercepted 152 kilogrammes of cocaine at the Tema port.
On its Facebook page, NACOC in a statement shared on September 26, 2020 noted that the drugs were concealed in a shipment of sugar from Brazil.
“With the assistance of some officials from the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority stationed at the warehouse, the physical search on the suspected containers and the bags of sugar commenced on Thursday, 10 September 2020. The suspected narcotics substances were on Saturday, 12 September 2020, found concealed among the bags of sugar in a container number MSCU6874205,” the NACOC statement said.
Later in November 2020, Citi News Romm reported that the seized consignment was destroyed by officials at the Bundase Military Training Camp, outside Accra. “The substance with a street value of about $3 million was confiscated at the Tema Port in September 2020 during a joint operation,” the article stated.
Verdict
The MP’s claim is rated false!
NB: GhanaFact reached out to the MP with our findings, but we did not get a response.
