Ghana Cocoa Board’s (COCOBOD) Anti-smuggling Task Force in collaboration with the security agencies, has within two weeks, retrieved over 1,500 bags of cocoa, en route to being smuggled to neighbouring countries.
The victory over smugglers between the first and second weeks of March was achieved, according to Mr. Charles Amenyaglo, Director of Special Services at COCOBOD, through a system put in place by COCOBOD that offers incentives for collaborators.
He said that the beans came from the Western North and Volta regions, and that arrests were made during the transit of the beans in Greater Accra, Volta, and the Western North regions.
On March 6, the Mamprobi Police Unit in the Greater Accra region, acting on a tip-off, stopped 508 bags of standard cocoa beans and 72 bags of waste cocoa beans coming from Sefwi Bekwai in a Howo truck with the license plate GS 854-21.
The driver, Abdul Rahman Amadu alleged that he was contracted at a lorry station to load the cocoa beans to Accra.
He was detained at a school in Mamprobi, which functioned as the dumping site, as he was re-bagging the beans from jute sacks into polythene sacks to avoid security inspections.
Rahman and two other suspects, all of whom are believed to be laborers, have been granted bail with one surety apiece. They must return to Circuit Court 6 in Accra on April 13.
The cocoa beans were released to COCOBOD the following day to avoid deterioration, according to Mr. Charles Amenyaglo.
“The beans were not thoroughly dried before they were transported and some were drenched in rainwater through transit. We had to immediately evacuate them to our Take-Over Centre at Tema for drying, reconditioning and rebagging.”
After that, 123 bags of waste cocoa beans weighted 50kg each and 511 bags of good cocoa beans weighed 64kg each were collected.
On March 13, the COCOBOD Anti-Smuggling Unit stopped smugglers from transporting 399 bags of cocoa beans from Dunkwa-on-Offin and Sefwi Bekwai in the Western North to the Ivory Coast.
The drivers of the trucks with the license plates AS 885 – 19 and AS 7457 – 17 have been granted police enquiry bail while the trucks have been confiscated.
A 42-year-old Nigerian man named Isaac Oluwaje has also been detained. Oluwaje claims ownership of 406 bags of cocoa beans that were discovered by a COCOBOD surveillance team when they were being transported from Nigeria to Togo through the Volta area.
Oluwaje asserts that he acquired the cocoa at Bonsu Nkwanta in the Western North region through a business associate in order to resell it in Togo.
Oluwaje had rebagged part of the cocoa beans in poly bags together with the driver of the track with registration number GX 7632 – 14 to evade detection.
Both are still in Police custody after failing to meet bail conditions following arraignment before the court.
Also in the Volta region, a Circuit Court in Denu has remanded two suspected cocoa smugglers into custody.
Ebenezer Tetteh, the renowned bean owner, and Francis Awuah, a truck driver, were detained on March 13 as a result of a joint operation by COCOBOD and the Aflao Command of the National Investigation Bureau (NIB).
The truck with registration number GX 8579 – 22 moved uninterrupted through the Tema Motorway in the Greater Accra region to the Volta region where they were arrested while crossing Ghana’s major border post to Togo.
The truck passed by officials of other State Security Agency without being checked until it was stopped by an NIB officer at the border, according to discreet checks, which Mr. Amenyaglo highlighted as concerning.
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He further revealed that an attempt was made to pay the officer 25,000 cedis to get him to release the truck of cocoa beans.
He affirmed that COCOBOD will continue to collaborate with security agencies to impede smugglers’ attempts and urged the public to share information to aid in the capture of offenders. He promised all informants confidentiality and compensation.
In Ghana, the law requires Cocoa farmers to sell their cocoa beans to certified Purchasing Clerks who act as agents of the Cocoa Marketing Company, a subsidiary of COCOBOD that oversees the purchase of cocoa beans on behalf of the government.
Ghana recorded a shortfall of 300,000 metric tonnes of cocoa in the 2021/2022 crop season, the lowest in 15 years due to a myriad of challenges including over-aged plants and climate change. There are fears that smugglers would worsen the shortfall in the current crop year if not nipped in the bud.
For many years, cocoa beans have been smuggled illegally between the Ivory Coast and Ghana, which is nearby.
Smuggling of cocoa between Ghana and the Ivory Coast occurs often, with the direction of the trafficking varying according to the price differential between the two nations.
The producer price for cocoa in Ivory Coast increased from 825 to 900 CFA francs, a nine percent increase.
The 900 CFA Franc per bag of cocoa weighing 64 kilograms gross is comparable to GH850 in cedis.
Also, as of October 7, 2022, Ghana increased the cocoa producer price by 21% to GH 800 per bag for the 2022–2023 growing season.
The price per bag in Ghana is GH800, which is GH50 less than the GH850 per bag in Ivory Coast. The producer price for the 2022–2023 cocoa season is 21% more than the 9% in Ivory Coast.
Despite Ivory Coast increased the farmgate price by only 9% compared to Ghana’s 21% rise, it is claimed that the steep devaluation of the cedi last year is to blame for the higher price per bag there.
People have been illegally transporting, or smuggling, cocoa beans between Ivory Coast and neighbouring Ghana for many years.
As long as buyers in Ivory Coast will pay more for Ghana’s higher-quality beans, the smuggling is lucrative.
Ghana recorded a shortfall of 300,000 metric tonnes of cocoa in the 2021/2022 crop season, the lowest in 15 years due to a myriad of challenges including over-aged plants and climate change.
If not stopped early, there are worries that traffickers would make the shortage in the current crop year worse.
The primary source of economic value loss in Ghana is the illegal export of cocoa to her neighbors.
Security personnel in Ghana who allow smuggling at the border should be punished severely since they are costing the country money.
SOURCE: CITINEWS
