'Systemic failure due to NACOC removal from port inspections' – Inusah Fuseini on drug busts

Former Tamale Central MP, Inusah Fuseini, has urged authorities to undertake a comprehensive review of Ghana's port inspection and border-control systems following a series of major drug seizures involving consignments linked to the country.

Speaking on The Big Issue on Channel One TV on Saturday, September 19, 2026, Mr Fuseini said the reported withdrawal of the Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) from port inspections should form part of the review.

“People believe that this system that we are seeing, this systemic failure that we are seeing, started showing its head in 2024 or thereabouts, 2024 or 2023, when the Narcotics Control Commission then was removed, withdrawn from the port for inspection purposes,” he said.

He said the recent seizure of narcotics concealed in a consignment exported from Ghana raised serious questions about how the drugs entered the country and subsequently passed through the country's ports.

“It has shocked everybody that drugs can pass through our ports and get to France disguised as recycled material,” he said.

“The question is, how did the drugs come into this country in the first place?”

Mr Fuseini said the investigation should go beyond identifying those directly linked to the shipment and examine possible weaknesses in the systems that allowed the narcotics to enter and move through Ghana.

He also questioned whether individuals operating within the system could have facilitated the movement of the drugs.

“Are there facilitators and enablers within the system that have made it possible for this quantity of drugs to enter the country?” he asked.

According to him, securing Ghana's ports is a shared responsibility involving multiple state agencies, and any review must examine how each institution performs its assigned duties.

“Every agency has a role to play. Ministry of Agriculture, Plant Quarantine Unit has a role to play at the port. Customs, Excise and Preventive Service, as part of the agency under the Ghana Revenue Authority, has a role to play,” he said.

He added that agencies responsible for combating narcotics also had specific responsibilities that needed to be assessed as part of the review.

“The Drug Enforcement Authorities have roles to play. So we need to look at the whole regime and ensure that people are playing their part.”

Mr Fuseini's comments come after French customs officials intercepted nearly 3.9 tonnes of cocaine concealed in a container carrying plastic waste that had arrived at the Port of Dunkirk from Ghana.

Four people have so far been remanded in Ghana in connection with the alleged export of the consignment, while investigations into the shipment and other persons who may be connected to it continue.