Ghana opposition demands answers over Beirut cocaine seizure

The New Patriotic Party has demanded a bipartisan parliamentary inquiry into the seizure of 46.7 kilograms of cocaine at Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon. The party also asked President John Dramani Mahama to publish the taskforce roadmap and issue a joint statement with Lebanese authorities.

National Second Vice Chairman Henry Nana Boakye outlined the demands at a press conference organized by the party. He said the government must establish the facts surrounding the operation and address concerns over Ghana’s role in the international drug trafficking network.

The NPP wants the taskforce roadmap, which was due on October 1, published within seven days. It also called for a joint statement involving Ghanaian and Lebanese authorities, including Lebanon’s Internal Security Force, to clarify whether the arrest resulted from a Ghanaian-led controlled delivery operation.

Boakye said the statement must establish when Ghanaian authorities were first informed about the operation. He expressed doubts about NACOC’s account, saying “We believe this is a lie, anyway.”

NACOC has maintained that the arrest of a Syrian national on October 31, 2026, followed a controlled delivery exercise involving cooperation between the two countries. The Commission said the operation was intended to identify and apprehend individuals at both ends of the drug supply chain.

Bright Simons, vice president of IMANI Africa, has also questioned NACOC’s account. He cited discrepancies between NACOC’s statement and accounts from Lebanese authorities regarding whether the seizure was a controlled delivery operation involving both countries.

Simons said reports from Lebanon attributed the operation to General Security and Customs without mentioning the anti-narcotics branch or cooperation with Ghanaian authorities. He noted that Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam praised coordination between the two Lebanese agencies without referencing Ghana.