Ghana security agencies address airport vulnerabilities and cybercrime arrests

During a hearing before Parliament's Public Accounts Committee, Ghanaian security officials detailed significant vulnerabilities in national security and drug enforcement. The Minister for the Interior, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, revealed that a senior airport security officer allegedly used a staff entrance to bypass mandatory screening, subsequently handing a bag to a suspected drug trafficker.

To address these weaknesses, authorities are deploying police and military canine units to support the Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC), which currently lacks sufficient sniffer dogs. NACOC Director-General Major General Maxwell Obuba Mantey also warned that traffickers are adopting sophisticated tactics, including purchasing personal scanners to test whether narcotics are detectable by airport equipment before attempting to smuggle them.

Addressing questions regarding inter-agency cooperation, Major General Mantey explained NACOC's involvement in the arrest of businessman Frederick ‘Abu Trica’ Kumi. He stated that the agency operates under various memoranda of understanding that allow for the pooling of resources, personnel, and funding with the Cyber Security Authority, the Criminal Investigations Department, and the Ghana Police Service.