The Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has made a significant bust, seizing 250 barrels of chemicals suspected to be sodium cyanide along the Black Volta River, which borders neighboring Burkina Faso.
The interception was made on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, during a routine patrol led by the Officer-in-Charge (OIC) for the Nadowli Kaleo District Command, Bertrand Dery, around Zukpiri, a suburb of Nadowli in the Upper West Region.
In a statement signed by the Regional Public Affairs Officer of GIS, Insp. IBN Yussif, Duranah Abdul-Mumin Seidu said the consignment was discovered at the bank of the Black Volta lake, apparently ready to be transported into Burkina Faso.
The suspected sodium cyanide cache was collected and transported to the Nadowli police station for safekeeping, examination, and further action.
The statement indicated that the GIS has activated its intelligence mechanism to identify and apprehend individuals complicit in the illegality.
The Upper West Regional Commander, DCOI Justice Bosomtwi-Ayensu, has sanctioned 24/7 surveillance of all known unapproved routes, with routine patrols actively in motion.
The GIS has warned the public to desist from cross-border crimes, emphasizing that any unrepentant individual who stands in their way shall face the full force of the law.
“The few recalcitrant persons whose livelihood is dependent on activities of illegality on our territorial borders must either stop or be stopped,” the service warned.
This seizure is a significant blow to would-be smugglers and demonstrates the GIS’s commitment to securing Ghana’s borders.
