The National Anti-Cocoa Smuggling Taskforce division of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) on Tuesday, May 7, 2024, intercepted smuggled cocoa beans at Mpraeso in the Eastern region.
According to myrepubliconline.com, 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, which resulted in the arrest of the smugglers.
The suspects, Kwasi Edem, 55, and Dennis Hodo, 28, a tipper truck driver, are currently in police custody at the Mpraeso Central Police Station, assisting with investigations.
The smugglers had stuffed the 130-bagged cocoa beans into the tipper truck and covered the surface with chippings, a clever way to distract security agencies from their questionable activities.
The plan is that when they arrive in Togo, which is not a cocoa producer, the price of cocoa will double compared to Ghana.
With cocoa prices at GH₵2,070, the smuggler could have made a whopping GH₵269,100 in one day.
Mr. Emmanuel Atta Ofori – Snr, the Municipal Chief Executive for Kwahu South, revealed in an exclusive interview with Republic Press’s Andy Frimpong Manso 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 before tomorrow.
He stated that the same operation, which began two years ago, has resulted in the arrest of smugglers exiting Ghanaian corridors to Togo.
The MCE has, however, promised that his district will not be used as an exit point for people smuggling Ghanaian natural resources to neighbouring countries.
He also urged the various MMDCEs to tighten security in their respective districts to ensure that Ghanaian natural resources, particularly cocoa, remain in Ghana.