The Minister for the Interior, Mubarak Mohammed Muntaka, has alleged that suspected cannabis traffickers are using ambulances and bullion vans to transport the substance as the government steps up efforts to tackle illegal cultivation and drug trafficking.
Speaking in an interview on Monday, October 12, 2026, Mr Muntaka said security agencies had received intelligence suggesting that vehicles meant for legitimate services were being used to conceal and transport cannabis.
He expressed concern about what he described as a casual attitude towards cannabis cultivation in some communities, where residents do not appear to consider the practice a serious problem.
“In most of our communities, cultivation of these weeds and other things, they take it lightly because they assume that probably it is not really consuming,” he said.
The Minister said the government was tackling the problem through the destruction of cannabis farms, arrests and intelligence-led operations to identify those involved in the illegal trade.
“We are dealing with it, we are destroying the farms, we are arresting,” he stated.
Recounting a recent operation, Mr Muntaka said security personnel acted on intelligence that dried cannabis had been stored in a shrine.
“When the men with the boots got there, they said it’s a shrine, they entered there and collected everything,” he said.
According to the Minister, the operation later prompted a complaint from the shrine’s owners, who wrote to him alleging that the security personnel had desecrated the sacred premises.
Mr Muntaka also alleged that some individuals were using ambulances to transport cannabis instead of patients.
“Sometimes, you’d see an ambulance coming from those areas, and then we will get intel that this is not carrying a sick person; it is carrying weed,” he said.
He explained that security officers who stopped and searched some of the vehicles had discovered cannabis inside.
“You stop it, and then you see that it is full of weed,” he said.
The Minister further alleged that bullion vans used to transport money for the Bank of Ghana were also being used to move the substance.
“And then you have bullion; they send Bank of Ghana money there, and then when they are coming they carry weeds,” he stated.
The allegations highlight the challenges facing security agencies as they work to prevent cannabis cultivation and trafficking, including the reported use of vehicles associated with essential and financial services to evade detection.
Mr Muntaka said the government would continue to target those involved through farm destruction, arrests and intelligence-led operations.
