A routine police checkpoint operation in the Central Region has uncovered what authorities believe is part of a broader cocoa smuggling scheme, after a Toyota Coaster Bus was found carrying 30 bags of undocumented cocoa beans.
The interception occurred on Monday, July 21, around 4:20 p.m., at the Brimso Police checkpoint. Officers stopped a vehicle with registration number GR 8247-20 and, upon inspection, discovered the cocoa beans hidden inside.
According to the Central Regional Police Commander, DCOP Kofi Adu, the driver of the vehicle, 42-year-old Bernard Owusu Agyemang, failed to produce any documentation for the cargo. He claimed he had been contracted by a man named Martin to deliver the beans to an unidentified woman in Mankessim, providing only a phone number as a contact.
DCOP Adu revealed that the police suspect the beans were illegally acquired and potentially bound for smuggling out of the country—an activity that undermines Ghana’s cocoa sector and robs the nation of critical revenue.
He assured the public that investigations were actively ongoing to uncover and dismantle any smuggling syndicate behind the operation. “We are working to trace the source and end destination of the cocoa, and anyone found culpable will be dealt with according to the law,” he said.
To support the probe, the police have handed the confiscated cocoa beans over to the Cape Coast office of COCOBOD for quality assessment and further verification.
Meanwhile, the police are calling on the public to support efforts in combating cocoa smuggling by volunteering information. DCOP Adu guaranteed that the identities of whistleblowers will be protected to encourage community cooperation.
Cocoa remains one of Ghana’s most important export commodities, and illegal trade not only hurts the economy but also threatens the livelihoods of farmers and the integrity of the supply chain.
