President John Dramani Mahama has summoned key security, intelligence, customs, ports and aviation authorities to an emergency high-level meeting over vulnerabilities that could be allowing narcotics and other illicit substances to pass through Ghana’s borders.
The meeting, scheduled for Thursday, September 17, at 12:30 p.m. at the Jubilee House, will examine weaknesses in Ghana’s border security arrangements and consider measures to prevent traffickers from exploiting them.
The Presidency says the discussions will focus on Ghana’s ports, airports and land borders, with particular attention to intelligence sharing, cargo and passenger screening, inter-agency coordination and the use of technology to detect and disrupt narcotics trafficking.
The meeting comes amid growing concern over foreign drug seizures linked to Ghana and questions over the country’s ability to detect and stop major narcotics shipments before they leave its borders.
Among the cases cited is the seizure by Australian customs authorities in June 2026 of 320 kilogrammes of methamphetamine valued at US$261 million.
The development has also heightened scrutiny following the Minority’s demand for answers over the failure to identify and prosecute alleged financiers and principal traffickers behind a US$350 million cocaine shipment seized at Pedu Junction in Cape Coast.
According to an invitation issued on behalf of President Mahama, the meeting will bring together the heads of institutions responsible for border management, maritime security, customs operations, intelligence gathering and narcotics control.
Participants are expected to assess existing security gaps within their respective areas of responsibility and present practical measures to strengthen surveillance, screening, intelligence sharing and joint enforcement operations.
The invitation specifically identifies “existing vulnerabilities, intelligence-sharing arrangements, cargo and passenger screening systems, inter-agency coordination, and the deployment of technology to detect and disrupt narcotics trafficking” as areas for discussion.
The Presidency has directed each invited institution to be represented by its head, accompanied by no more than one relevant technical officer.
It says the senior-level representation is necessary because of the urgency and national security implications of the issue.
“Given the urgency and national-security implications, your personal attendance is required,” the invitation stated.
The meeting will include the Ministers of Finance and Foreign Affairs; the Director-General of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority; the Commissioner of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority; the Sector Commander of Customs at Tema; and the CEOs of the Ghana Shippers Authority, Ghana Link Network Services, Meridian Port Services and Ghana Airports Company.
Also expected are the Chief of Naval Staff, Directors-General of the National Intelligence Bureau and the Narcotics Control Commission, the Ghana Police Service CID/Interpol and operators of terminal scanners.
The institutions have been asked to come prepared with “a brief assessment of existing security gaps and propose practical measures to improve intelligence sharing, surveillance, screening, and joint enforcement operations.”
The meeting is therefore expected to assess not only the physical security of Ghana’s entry points but also whether existing intelligence and enforcement systems are sufficiently coordinated to identify and intercept organised narcotics trafficking.
