A Syrian national has been arrested at Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, after arriving from Accra, Ghana, with approximately 40 kilogrammes of suspected cocaine concealed in two pieces of luggage. The Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) confirmed the arrest in a press release, stating that the operation took place on Saturday, October 31, 2026.
According to the Commission, the arrest resulted from a coordinated controlled delivery exercise involving Ghanaian and Lebanese drug law enforcement authorities. It explained that the joint operation was designed to identify and apprehend individuals at both ends of the suspected drug trafficking chain while gathering intelligence to dismantle the wider transnational criminal syndicate believed to be behind the shipment.
The Commission further disclosed that efforts were underway to arrest the suspect’s alleged accomplices in Ghana as part of ongoing operations.
The latest arrest comes amid growing concerns over Ghana’s links to international narcotics trafficking, particularly following a series of major cocaine seizures involving consignments traced to the country.
In September 2026, figures released by Belgian customs revealed that Ghana was the fifth-largest country of origin for cocaine seized at the Port of Antwerp in 2025. Ghana was the only African country among the five leading countries on the list, which was otherwise dominated by Latin American countries.
Belgian customs recorded nearly 55 tonnes of cocaine seizures at the port in 2025. Ghana’s position on the list was largely associated with major consignments intercepted in Belgium after being shipped from the Tema Port, including approximately 2,829 kilogrammes of cocaine concealed in cassava flour in November 2025 and a further 1,158 kilogrammes intercepted in December of the same year.
Among the notable international seizures was the interception of nearly 4,500 kilogrammes of cocaine at the Port of Amsterdam in June 2025, concealed in a timber shipment from Ghana. Another major seizure occurred in September 2026, when French customs intercepted approximately 3.9 tonnes of cocaine concealed in a container carrying plastic waste that had arrived from Ghana at the Port of Dunkirk.
The series of seizures has prompted renewed scrutiny of Ghana’s port security and border surveillance arrangements. On September 17, 2026, President John Dramani Mahama convened a meeting with security chiefs and directed an inter-agency task force to review the country’s existing systems for detecting narcotics trafficking and submit a roadmap for strengthening security at the country’s borders.
The Commission has also intensified its engagement with agencies operating at the Tema Harbour. It says its collaboration with Lebanese authorities forms part of broader efforts to disrupt international trafficking networks through intelligence-sharing and coordinated enforcement operations. Investigations are ongoing, with the Commission working to identify and arrest other persons allegedly connected to the shipment in Ghana.
