Twelve (12) people are currently in police custody following an attempt to bribe personnel of the National Anti-Cocoa Smuggling Taskforce at Kwahu Adawso in the Kwahu South Municipality of the Eastern Region.
The 12 were apprehended upon information after attempting to smuggle out 400 sacks of cocoa beans. They are suspected of being a part of a syndicate that smuggles cocoa.
Two trucks, registered AS 2653-12 and GS 4220-12, carrying cocoa beans destined for Togo, were intercepted by a team comprising the Ghana Cocoa Board, the Formed Police Unit, and the Ministry of National Security.
Loading boys who were stopped while trying to unload the cocoa beans are among the people arrested, along with drivers, friends, and boat operators.
Emmanuel Atta Ofori Snr., the chairman of the Kwahu South Municipal Security Council, praised the security for continuing to catch the criminals despite being given GH¢80,000 in bribes when informing the media about the arrest.
“We have arrested 12 people who are currently in police custody, and I am keenly interested in the outcome, so I will monitor the proceedings to make sure the sanctioned laws of the land are tested. I am therefore appealing to the prosecution and judiciary to swiftly adjudicate issues of national concern like this particular one in order for all necessary sanctions and punishment to be meted out to the culprits when found guilty because they are causing financial loss to the state.
“Last month, we made a similar arrest on the ferry, which was a cargo vehicle. We have arrested a tipper truck too, but today it is a Kia Rhino smuggling cocoa, which is an indication that the smugglers are really in business. I want to use this medium to announce to them that the Kwahu South Municipal Security Council will not relent but pursue them anytime they want to transit their smuggled goods through our municipality.
The Kwahu South Municipality has seen three arrests in less than two months, including this most recent one.
In the Kwahu Afram Plains region, cocoa beans are frequently smuggled from Suhum to Adawso to Togo via Dzemeni.
Mr. Atta Ofori Snr. fervently begged the judiciary to move quickly on this matter in order to prevent those engaged in the act, and he also exhorted his fellow MMDCEs and the state security forces to be more patriotic in the fight against cocoa smuggling.