Minority demands answers on financiers behind US$350m Pedu cocaine haul

The Minority in Ghana's Parliament is calling for answers regarding the lack of progress in identifying and prosecuting the individuals responsible for a US$350 million cocaine haul seized at Pedu Junction in Cape Coast. Ranking Member Rev. Ntim Fordjour noted that over a year after the seizure, only the truck driver, a housemaid, and a few peripheral suspects have been charged and are still on bail, while the alleged financiers and high-profile dealers behind the shipment remain unidentified and unpunished.

The shipment, intercepted on March 4, 2025, contained over 3.3 tonnes of cocaine concealed under sand and was en route from Takoradi to Accra. Another consignment worth approximately US$150 million was also seized along the Takoradi–Cape Coast highway. Fordjour emphasized that this pattern of major narcotics seizures linked to Ghana under the NDC government is part of a troubling trend.

He highlighted recent foreign seizures associated with Ghana, such as 320kg of methamphetamine seized by Australian authorities in June 2026 and nearly 3.9 metric tonnes of cocaine seized by French customs in September 2026. Fordjour's concerns about the scale of narcotics trafficking through Ghana and the apparent lackadaisical approach to prosecuting high-level offenders have prompted the Minority to seek a full-scale, independent Parliamentary inquiry into the alleged complicity, negligence, or oversight failures of key security and transport agencies.

The Minority is calling for sector Ministers and agency heads to be questioned by Parliament regarding the status of ongoing investigations and the reasons behind targeting low-level couriers instead of the financiers and principal traffickers. They also demand answers about the MV Sankofa incident and measures being taken to safeguard Ghana's ports, airports, and territorial waters.

The Minority insists that the nation's international standing and the protection of its youth from drug-related harm cannot be contingent on official inaction or political expediency.