The Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) has arrested three foreign nationals in Ghana in connection with a 46.7-kilogramme cocaine consignment seized at Lebanon’s Rafic Hariri International Airport.
The suspects, comprising Syrian, Tunisian and Lebanese nationals, were arrested in separate intelligence-led operations on Tuesday, November 3, following information received from Lebanese law enforcement authorities.
Two of the suspects, a man and a woman, were arrested in Accra, while the third was apprehended in a separate operation.
The arrests form part of ongoing investigations by Ghanaian and Lebanese security agencies to identify individuals suspected of facilitating the movement of the cocaine shipment and establish their links to a wider international drug trafficking network.
The development follows the arrest of a Syrian national at Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport on Saturday, October 31, after he arrived from Accra aboard a Middle East Airlines flight with cocaine concealed in two pieces of luggage.
Lebanese Customs authorities said a search of the passenger’s luggage uncovered 40 packages containing 46.7 kilogrammes of cocaine. The drugs were concealed using sophisticated packaging and insulation materials intended to evade detection by scanning equipment.
Electronic tracking devices were also reportedly found among the packages, with Lebanese authorities describing the seizure as the largest drug bust in the airport’s history.
Preliminary investigations indicated that the suspect had entered Lebanon through the Masnaa border crossing from Syria several weeks earlier before travelling to Accra and subsequently returning to Beirut with the consignment.
NACOC said the operation leading to the arrest in Beirut was a coordinated controlled-delivery exercise conducted in collaboration with Lebanese drug enforcement authorities.
The exercise was aimed at identifying and apprehending individuals at both ends of the drug supply chain while gathering intelligence to dismantle the wider transnational criminal network.
