Four Arrested Over Alleged Smuggling of 116 Bags of Ivorian Cocoa Through Yakasi Border

Four persons, including a driver, have been arrested in a joint security operation after 116 bags of cocoa beans were allegedly smuggled into Ghana from Côte d’Ivoire through the Yakasi forest border in the Aowin Municipality of the Western North Region.

The operation, carried out by National Security operatives from Accra alongside their counterparts in Enchi, intercepted the consignment before the suspects could move the beans deeper into the country. The four are expected to assist investigations into the smuggling ring and the routes used to move the commodity across the border.

The arrests come amid growing concerns over the illegal cross-border movement of cocoa, a trade that has cost Ghana an estimated US$1.1 billion between 2022 and 2025, according to the Director of Special Services at the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Jake Kudjo Samahar . The losses were attributed to smuggling into neighbouring Togo and Côte d’Ivoire, with 7,128.13 tonnes of cocoa lost from the Volta and Oti regions alone between the 2020 and 2025 crop years .

Why Smuggling Persists

The economics of cocoa pricing between Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire have long created incentives for cross-border arbitrage. For the 2026/27 season, Ghana set its producer price at GH¢42,400 per tonne, equivalent to GH¢2,650 per 64-kilogram bag . Côte d’Ivoire’s guaranteed farmgate price for its 2025/26 mid-crop was fixed at 1,200 CFA francs per kilogram, roughly US$2,110 per tonne .

However, the direction of smuggling is not always one-way. A CropGPT analysis in October 2026 noted that Ghana’s farmgate price of approximately US2,084, a gap that “could draw Ivorian beans into Ghana” and reverse a pattern that had previously seen up to 160,000 metric tonnes leave Ghana in a single season . The Yakasi interception appears consistent with that reversal—beans moving from Côte d’Ivoire into Ghana.

Questions Over Border Security

The involvement of National Security operatives from Accra has raised pointed questions about the effectiveness of local intelligence and the role of agencies stationed along the Ghana-Côte d’Ivoire border. The Ghana Immigration Service is responsible for monitoring the movement of persons, while the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority oversees goods entering and leaving the country.

Yet 116 bags of cocoa—a substantial commercial quantity—were allegedly moved through a forest border crossing without detection by local personnel. The operation’s reliance on a team dispatched from the capital suggests either a gap in local surveillance capacity or, more troublingly, possible complicity among some officers stationed in the area. Authorities have not suggested wrongdoing by all border personnel, but the circumstances call for a closer examination of whether there were lapses, negligence, or collusion.

COCOBOD’s Anti-Smuggling Push

The interception follows heightened enforcement activity by COCOBOD. In April 2026, a joint operation by the Board’s Anti-Smuggling Unit and security agencies arrested four individuals at Nkrankwanta in the Dormaa West District with more than 100 bags of cocoa allegedly smuggled from Côte d’Ivoire . Those suspects were later granted GH¢10,000 bail each by the Fiapre Circuit Court .

COCOBOD has also introduced a revised reward scheme under which informants and anti-smuggling agents receive one-third of the assessed value of confiscated cocoa . The Board has urged the public to report suspected smuggling through its Special Anti-Smuggling Task Force hotline, 0308-040-107, with assurances of confidentiality .

The Board has additionally proposed a 10-year jail term for cocoa smuggling under a new legislative framework, signalling a shift toward tougher deterrence .

The Stakes for Ghana

Cocoa remains a cornerstone of Ghana’s economy and foreign exchange earnings. The 2026/27 harvest is projected at 650,000 metric tonnes, down 13 per cent from the previous season, with swollen shoot disease and ageing farms cited as persistent challenges . Every bag lost to smuggling or diverted through informal cross-border channels represents revenue that never reaches COCOBOD, licensed buying companies, or the state.

For the people of Aowin, the Yakasi interception is both a relief and a warning. The arrests demonstrate that enforcement can work—but the fact that a national security team had to travel from Accra to intercept a consignment at a manned border crossing raises uncomfortable questions about what exactly is happening at Ghana’s frontiers, and who, if anyone, is looking the other way.

---

Reporter’s note: The suspects have not been publicly named or charged, and the investigation is ongoing. The 116-bag figure is as reported by the source; no independent confirmation of the exact quantity was available. Cocoa smuggling cases in Ghana typically proceed under customs and narcotics-related statutes, though COCOBOD is pushing for a dedicated legal framework with stiffer penalties.