The National Anti-Cocoa Smuggling Taskforce of COCOBOD intercepts 130-bagged cocoa beans smuggled through Suhum, bound for Togo, at Mpraeso in the Eastern region.
The National Anti-Cocoa Smuggling Taskforce division of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has intercepted smuggled cocoa beans at Mpraeso in the Eastern region. The 130-bagged cocoa beans were smuggled through Suhum, with an exit to Mpraeso via the Afram Plains River in the Kwahu Afram Plains South, then to the Volta Region and finally into Togo.
A team of National Security personnel in the Eastern Region received a tip-off while conducting routine surveillance within the Kwahu block, resulting in the arrest of the suspects, Kwasi Edem, 55, and Dennis Hodo, 28, a tipper truck driver, who are currently in police custody at the Mpraeso Central Police Station, assisting with investigations.
The smugglers had concealed the cocoa beans in the tipper truck and covered the surface with chippings to evade detection. The plan was to sell the cocoa in Togo, where prices are higher than in Ghana, potentially making a profit of GH₵269,100 in one day.
Mr. Emmanuel Atta Ofori – Snr, the Municipal Chief Executive for Kwahu South, revealed in an interview that a similar incident occurred in the first week of January 2024 and that the suspects who smuggled over 500 bags of cocoa beans into Togo will face prosecution. He emphasized that his district will not be used as an exit point for smuggling Ghanaian natural resources to neighbouring countries and called for increased security in other districts to prevent similar incidents.