Police in the Bolgatanga East District of the Upper East Region have seized 500 bags of smuggled cocoa, which were transported in an articulated truck to Burkina Faso.
The truck was impounded in Zuarungu upon a tip-off on July 31, 2024.
The vehicle, labelled waste cocoa beans was headed for the Kulungungu border to Burkina Faso.
However, after a thorough inspection by the police, customs, NIB, Defense Intelligence and Plant Protection and the regulatory section of the Ghana Immigration Service, MOFA, it was discovered that the content wasn’t wasted cocoa beans.
It is alleged that the cocoa beans were smuggled from Gonokrom in the Dormaa Municipality of the Bono Region.
The impounded truck is currently in police custody as investigations continue.
This comes after the police in Sefwi Adjoafua, in the Bia West District of the Western North Region, seized 800 bags of cocoa being smuggled to Ivory Coast.
The bags of cocoa, impounded by the law enforcement agency on Tuesday, June 18, 2024, were loaded in an articulated truck with the registration number AS 3984-12.
The interception follows a tip-off from intelligence officers of the Ghana Cocoa Board.
The police quickly mobilized and established a roadblock on a major route frequently used by the smugglers. Upon inspecting the truck, they uncovered a large shipment of cocoa bags.
Major Rtd Ebenezer Tetteh, an intelligence officer at the Ghana Cocoa Board, Bia West, revealed that preliminary investigations indicated that the cocoa, valued at several million Ghanaian cedis, was intended for illegal export.