Four arrested as police intercept 11.8 tonnes of cocoa at Bunkpurugu

The Ghana Police Service has arrested four people after intercepting 118 bags of cocoa beans weighing 11,800 kilogrammes at Bunkpurugu in the North East Region.

The suspects are Mohammed Mumin, 22; Ernestina Akugre, 23; Dickson Asante, 35; and Gideon Tab, 19.

According to the Police in a statement, the consignment was intercepted on August 9, 2026, after security officials received information about a Hyundai Rhino truck, with registration number AS-3272-25, transporting plantain and cocoa under suspicious circumstances towards the Togo border.

Acting on the information, a Police patrol team stopped the truck at the Bunkpurugu Police Snap Check Point and arrested the four suspects.

The vehicle was subsequently searched at the Customs Office by a joint security team comprising personnel from the Ghana Police Service, Ghana Immigration Service, Defence Intelligence, GRA Customs Division and National Security.

The search revealed that the plantain was allegedly being used as a decoy to conceal the cocoa beans, which were suspected to have been destined for neighbouring Togo through the Bunkpurugu-Togo border.

The suspects are currently in Police custody and assisting with investigations.

They are expected to be put before court to face the full rigours of the law.