Ketu North MP Eric Edem Agbana says suspects have been arrested in Ghana over the 2.6 tonnes of cocaine seized in Spain after NACOC worked with the Spanish authorities.
The NDC legislator made the claim on TV3’s New Day on Thursday morning, linking the Ghana arrests to joint work between NACOC and investigators in Spain over the coconut shipment seized at the port of Valencia
“The information I have is that NACOC and the Spanish authorities collaborated. That is why we have made arrests here in Ghana and the items have also been arrested in Spain,” he said.
NACOC has not publicly confirmed any arrests in Ghana. The Spanish account of the operation names only two arrests, both in Spain, in Viator in the province of Almería.
Agbana said NACOC would release further details at the right time, urging the public not to press security agencies for information that could harm the investigation. “Sometimes the early release of information on some of these things can equally compromise the investigative process,” he said.
Spain’s Tax Agency and Civil Guard say officers found 2,600kg of cocaine under false bottoms fitted into wooden crates of coconuts inside two containers. The boxes were loaded at the port of Tema on August 2 and reached Valencia on August 22.
The full timeline is set out in what we know about the Tema shipment.
Spanish investigators then followed the containers from the port to a warehouse in Almería’s La Juaida industrial area, arresting two men as the cargo was taken off the lorries.
The seizure adds to a run of cocaine busts linked to Ghana, discussed in this opinion piece on better policing or leakier ports.
Agbana also said Ghanaians should recognise the work of the security agencies in exposing trafficking networks, insisting NACOC has the capacity to deal with the problem. The commission’s Director-General has vowed to go after drug traffickers wherever they are.
