Kofi Tonto questions Mahama over 46.7kg cocaine bust at Beirut Airport

Kofi Tonto, spokesperson for Employment on the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Policy Committee, has questioned President John Dramani Mahama over another cocaine seizure involving a passenger who travelled from Accra to Lebanon.

Tonto described the development as an international embarrassment for Ghana, questioning why the President had been unable to stop the recurring incidents.

In a Facebook post, he wrote: “So President John Mahama can’t put a stop to this international embarrassment? New month, new cocaine bust. 40KG of Cocaine busted in Beirut, Lebanon.”

His comments follow the seizure of 46.7 kilogrammes of cocaine by Lebanese Customs at the Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut on Saturday, October 31, 2026.

According to the Lebanese Customs authorities, the suspect was a Syrian national identified only as B.H., who arrived in Lebanon aboard Middle East Airlines flight MEA 576 from Accra, Ghana.

Customs officers reportedly discovered 40 packages of cocaine concealed in the passenger’s luggage. The drugs had allegedly been wrapped using advanced insulation and packaging techniques intended to evade airport scanning systems.

Electronic tracking devices were also reportedly found inside the packages.

The General Directorate of Customs in Lebanon said the operation was conducted late Saturday in collaboration with Lebanese General Security following intelligence gathering and field surveillance.

The authority described the seizure as the largest narcotics interception ever recorded at Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport.

The latest incident has triggered renewed political commentary in Ghana, with Kofi Tonto raising concerns about the country's international reputation and the repeated discovery of suspected cocaine shipments linked to passengers departing from Accra.