NACOC’s cocaine suspects arrest commendable, but it cannot run on ‘charity’ to fight drug cartels

The arrest of three suspects linked to Dutch fugitive Jos Leijdekkers, alias “Bolle Jos”, by the Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) following the $260 million cocaine seizure in Dunkirk, France, is a major win for Ghana.

The press release dated 14th September 2026 and signed by Ag. Director of Public Affairs, PNCO Francis Opoku Amoah, reaffirms NACOC’s resolve that Ghana will not be a safe haven for drug barons. That resolve must be commended.

But this same arrest exposes a dangerous truth everyone in the country is aware of: NACOC is succeeding in spite of the system, not because of it. How can an agency mandated to stop international cartels operate without tools?

A Commission Stranded on Logistics:

Until the current leadership arrived, the Commission’s transportation situation was so bad that it was crippling operations. For eight years, the Commission received only four vehicles. The current administration had to use personal links to secure 27 vehicles to keep operations moving.

A law enforcement agency fighting well-funded cartels cannot be run on charity and personal contacts. It needs a fully budgeted fleet of operational, surveillance, and armoured vehicles.

On Port Operations: Where Are the Tools and the Access? This latest cocaine shipment left Ghana in a container of alleged plastic waste. It was detected in France, not Ghana. That should worry every Ghanaian.

The Begging Questions:

• At the Tema Port and Takoradi Port, what modern equipment is available for drug detection? Do we have ion scanners, trace detectors, and canine support at scale?
• Is NACOC granted unfettered access to the scanning room?
• Who controls what is seen and what is not seen?
• Where containers are actually stuffed and loaded – the Inland Container Depots and private warehouses – do we have permanent NACOC officials stationed there?
• Who has been blocking NACOC from such sensitive places for years?
• Has NACOC been granted full access to the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS) to profile and flag high-risk shipments in real-time?

If NACOC does not have full, real-time access to ICUMS and the scanning rooms, then we are leaving our gates wide open and only arresting after the drugs have been intercepted in Europe.

A Call To President Mahama:

The President and the Minister for Interior must take this Bolle Jos case as a wake-up call. You cannot task NACOC with preventing Ghana from becoming a transit hub while starving it of the tools it needs.

We call on Government to immediately:

1. Retool NACOC with state-of-the-art drug detection equipment at all entry points – airports, seaports and land borders.

2. Grant NACOC mandatory, unimpeded physical presence in all scanning rooms and container loading bays.

3. Give NACOC full integration and access rights to ICUMS and all port single-window systems.

4. Provide a dedicated budget for fleet, forensic labs, and intelligence technology, so the Commission does not have to rely on links to function.

The officers of NACOC have shown professionalism by arresting and taking these three suspects into custody. Imagine what they could do if they were properly tooled.