Ghana has been identified as the fifth-largest country of origin for cocaine seized at the port of Antwerp in Belgium, according to data released by Belgian customs authorities. The West African nation is the only non-Latin American country on a top-five list otherwise made up of Ecuador, Costa Rica, Brazil, and Colombia. In 2025, Belgian customs registered nearly 55 tonnes of cocaine at Antwerp, marking a 24 per cent increase compared to the 44 tonnes intercepted the previous year.
Finance Minister Jan Jambon released the findings on 21 January 2026, highlighting Ghana's emergence as a significant player in the global cocaine trade. Public broadcaster VRT characterized Ghana's inclusion as "the odd one out," given its geographical location outside of Latin America. Antwerp serves as Europe's primary entry point for cocaine shipments arriving by sea, making it a critical point of interception for international authorities.
According to customs definitions, the country of origin denotes the departure point where containers were loaded, rather than where the narcotics originated. None of the illicit product is cultivated inside Ghana; instead, traffickers source the drugs from the Andes and conceal them within legitimate export commodities. This has led to a series of high-volume seizures involving cargo originating from the port of Tema in Ghana.
In late November 2025, Belgian authorities intercepted 2,829 kilogrammes of cocaine hidden inside cassava flour shipments from Tema. Officials uncovered an additional 1,158 kilogrammes of suspected cocaine in December, combined accounting for approximately 4 tonnes, or 7 per cent of total cocaine seizures at Antwerp that year. This significant footprint represents a distinct shift in the global cocaine trade.
A major 2022 analysis of Europe's cocaine market by the European Union's drugs agency and Europol named Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Benin, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia as West African countries linked to large seizures, but did not mention Ghana. However, international operations have continued to expose vulnerabilities across Ghanaian logistics corridors, with several high-profile seizures taking place in 2025 and 2026.
In June 2025, Dutch authorities at Amsterdam seized 4,500 kilogrammes of cocaine hidden in timber from Tema. In June 2026, Australian officials announced the interception of 320 kilogrammes of methamphetamine concealed in charcoal shipments from Ghana, carrying an estimated value of A$296 million. French customs officers in Dunkirk discovered nearly 3.9 tonnes of cocaine inside a container of plastic waste originating from Ghana with a destination set for Antwerp.
The Ghanaian government has taken steps to address the issue, with President John Mahama convening security chiefs on 17 September 2026 to evaluate national border security and response to the growing threat of narcotics trafficking. A local media tally by JoyNews identifies 28 narcotics cases tied to Ghana since January 2025, with 11 involving cocaine, and documented weight totals reaching roughly 15.8 tonnes, with four cases having official financial valuations totalling approximately US$768 million.
Key points
- Ghana emerges as fifth-largest country of origin for cocaine seized at Antwerp port in 2025.
- Belgian customs registered nearly 55 tonnes of cocaine at Antwerp in 2025, a 24% increase from 2024.
- President John Mahama convened security chiefs on 17 September 2026 to evaluate national border security and response to narcotics trafficking.
