NACOC arrests three after France seizes Ghana-linked cocaine shipment

The Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) has arrested three suspects for allegedly representing and facilitating the activities of Dutch fugitive drug trafficker Jos Leijdekkers, popularly known as “Bolle Jos”, in Ghana.

The arrests follow the seizure of a major cocaine shipment by French customs, which authorities say is allegedly linked to a wider trafficking network.

NACOC said the three suspects are currently in its custody and are assisting investigators in establishing their alleged roles in the trafficking operation.

The Commission said the arrests form part of efforts to disrupt international drug-trafficking networks operating in or through Ghana.

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“NACOC remains resolute that Ghana will not be a safe haven, transit point or operational base for international drug-trafficking organisations,” the Commission said in a statement.

It added that it would continue to work with domestic and international law-enforcement partners to disrupt the people, finances and infrastructure sustaining the illicit drug trade.

NACOC said the rights and legal protections of all persons under investigation would be respected.

French cocaine seizure

The arrests come days after French customs officers seized nearly 3.9 tonnes of cocaine at the port of Dunkirk.

The cocaine, valued at about €225 million (US$261 million), was concealed in a container of plastic waste that had arrived from Ghana. The shipment was initially destined, in part, for Antwerp, Belgium.

French authorities said their judicial police had targeted the criminal network behind the shipment before the seizure, and an investigation has since been opened into the alleged organised importation of narcotics and participation in a criminal association.

Dutch and French investigative sources have reportedly linked part of the shipment to the criminal organisation of Leijdekkers, although Dutch prosecutors have not independently confirmed his involvement in the specific seizure.

Leijdekkers, who is a Dutch national, and a convicted drug trafficker, has been sentenced in absentia in the Netherlands and Belgium over cocaine trafficking and other crimes. He has remained at large and is believed to be operating from West Africa.



MA