A joint operation between the Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) and the Bureau of National Investigations has led to the arrest of the lead shipper of the 320kg methamphetamine busted in Australia.
The Chronicle has been informed that the lead shipper, who has been caught, is a Ghanaian woman, but authorities at NACOC would not divulge any further information on the suspect at this stage of the investigations.
The Director-General of NACOC, Brigadier General Maxwell Obuba Mantey, was not specific on where in Ghana the suspect was arrested when The Chronicle posed the question to him on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, at the Bundase Military Training Camp.
“We did that over three nights. My officers slept out of their homes for three nights and successfully picked the person who led that enterprise,” the DG told journalists.
He informed journalists during the briefing that authorities were tracking other suspects for arrest.The Chronicle understands at least ten people are on the radar of NACOC in connection with the matter.
NACOC STATEMENT
Late afternoon yesterday, NACOC released a statement announcing its “first arrest in the ongoing investigation into a 320 kg methamphetamine shipment.”
The Acting Director, Public Affairs & International Relations, PNCO Francis Opoku Amoah, who signed the statement, said the arrest provides vital intelligence as “we work to identify and apprehend additional members of this global criminal network.”
The drugs, which carry a street value of $296 million, were traced to a storage facility in Girraween, Australia, in April 2026, the statement recalled.
WHAT WE KNOW
A Citinewsroom report indicated that Australian Federal Police (AFP) launched an investigation in April 2026 after Australian Border Force (ABF) officers detected anomalies in two shipping containers that arrived at Sydney’s Port Botany from Ghana.
The shipment, declared as bags of charcoal, was subjected to x-ray screening, during which officers discovered a white crystallised substance. Preliminary tests returned a positive result for methamphetamine, the news item added.
At the time of filing this report in the evening of yesterday, no new information relating to further arrests has emerged.
WORLD DRUG DAY
In a related development, the NACOC on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, set ablaze dozens of illicit drugs at the Bundase Military Training Camp, Greater Accra.The destruction formed part of activities marking this year’s World Drug Day, scheduled for Friday, June 26, 2026, globally.
According to the DG, the substances destroyed were lawfully seized by NACOC and its partner security agencies and went through the requisite legal processes to obtain permission to destroy them.
“This exercise represents the final stage of our enforcement efforts and ensures that these dangerous substances never find their way back into our communities. It is our determination that after the World Drug Day on Friday, we [NACOC] are going to go out and hunt for those whose activity or whose business is just to sell drugs to destroy our young ones,” he announced.
DESTROYED
Following an on-site test by officials of the Ghana Standards Authority in the presence of the press, 9.6 tonnes of cannabis, 46.89 kilogrammes of cocaine, 2,734 bottles of cannabis-laced drinks, 130 boxes of hemp-related products and others were destroyed.The court order permitting NACOC to carry out the destruction was shared with the journalists present.
The DG remarked that collectively, those substances represented thousands of doses that could have fuelled addiction, destroyed families and endangered young people as well as strengthened criminal networks.
He noted that the destruction “sends a very strong message, and I mean a very strong message and an unmistakable one that Ghana remains resolute in denying drug traffickers and criminal networks their profits from illicit drug activities.”
The international day against drug abuse and illicit trafficking would be celebrated on Friday, June 26, 2026.
The global campaign this year is on the theme “The World Drug Problem: Persisting Issues, New Challenges, and Innovative Responses.”
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