Counterfeit GTP: the Nigeria trail

The threat to "made in Ghana" is not only theoretical. On Monday, 9 November 2026, police arrested two suspects at Adabraka in Accra and seized large quantities of wax print fabrics suspected to be counterfeit GTP.

The IGP Special Operations Team acted on intelligence that two articulated trucks, suspected to have come from Nigeria, were offloading contraband at a warehouse off the Kojo Thompson Highway. The consignment is estimated at GH¢20 million and is believed to have been smuggled from Nigeria.

The word "suspected" matters. The police have not yet proven the cloth is fake or that it came from Nigeria, so the case remains an allegation until investigations are completed.

The seizure fits a long-running pattern. A report in ModernGhana years ago warned that textile makers in China, Pakistan, Nigeria, India and Ivory Coast copy popular designs and smuggle them back into Ghana.

Makola stalls were found lined with smuggled cloth from China, Nigeria, Ivory Coast and elsewhere. Ghanaian officials, the same report said, were more troubled by the smuggling than by the copyright infringement.

The damage to GTP and its traders. GTP's marketing director said counterfeiters once only stole designs, but now copy the labels and other trademark property too, making real and fake hard to tell apart.

Traders in the Ashanti Region said they were losing customers to fakes, with part of Kejetia Market dominated by fake products. A Tex Styles Ghana sales manager blamed copies and imports for a sharp drop in sales over five years.

What GTP is doing. Tex Styles Ghana introduced an authentication service so buyers can check whether a GTP product is genuine. Earlier, GTP labels carried a scratch-off panel with a 12-digit code that buyers could text to a verification service.

Balance. The Nigerian angle is the latest chapter, not the whole story. Manufacturers have mainly blamed counterfeit cloth made in China, often shipped via Guangzhou to ports such as Lomé. Nigeria is itself home to print makers, so this should not be read as a case against Nigerian textiles in general.

Suggested closing line: The fight for "Made in Ghana" is being fought at Makola, Kejetia and the nation's borders, and a GH¢20 million seizure shows how much is at stake.

Mustapha Bature Sallama
Medical/ Science Communicator,
Private Investigator, Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Analysis,

International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding. (USIP)

[email protected]
+233555275880

References
Graphic Online, "Accra: Police arrest 2 suspects, seize counterfeit fabrics worth GH¢20 million at Adabraka" (12 Nov 2026): https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/police-arrest-2-suspects-seize-counterfeit-fabrics-worth-ghc20-million.html

ModernGhana, "Ghana's textile industry combats cheap knockoffs": https://www.modernghana.com/news/24190/ghanas-textile-industry-combats-cheap-knockoffs.amp

Graphic Online, "Counterfeiting causes financial loss to GTP": https://graphiconline.com/news/general-news/counterfeiting-causes-financial-loss-to-gtp-1.html

Citi Newsroom, "Ashanti Region: Influx of fake textiles threatening local businesses" (5 May 2024): https://citinewsroom.com/2024/05/ashanti-region-influx-of-fake-textiles-threatening-local-businesses/

Citi Newsroom, report on declining sales at Textiles Ghana Limited: https://citinewsroom.com/?p=1040913

Graphic Online, "Tex Styles Ghana moves to check pirated textiles": https://graphiconline.com/business/business-news/tex-styles-ghana-moves-to-check-pirated-textiles.html

Christian Science Monitor, "Chinese counterfeits leave Ghanaian textiles hanging by a thread" (2015): https://csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2015/0531/Chinese-counterfeits-leave-Ghanaian-textiles-hanging-by-a-thread