Update, November 12: The Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) has arrested a 43-year-old freight forwarder in Tema in connection with the seizure. NACOC announced the arrest in a statement, Adom Online reports; JoyNews and GhanaWeb attribute the details to a source at NACOC. The suspect, who runs a freight forwarding business at Community 1, Tema, was arrested at about 3pm on Wednesday, November 11, and is being held in NACOC cells to assist investigations. He has not been named. Preliminary investigations linked him to processing the customs documents for the shipment, which an agent allegedly brought to his company on behalf of the exporters, the reports say.
This is the only arrest in Ghana reported so far, and NACOC is working to locate and arrest others involved, according to the reports. Ketu North MP Edem Agbana told TV3's New Day on Thursday morning that "we have made arrests here in Ghana"; only one has been reported.
Spanish authorities say they have seized 2,600 kilograms of cocaine hidden in two shipping containers of coconuts that were loaded at Ghana's Tema Port.
Spain's Tax Agency, which runs the country's Customs Surveillance Service, and the Guardia Civil announced the seizure in a joint statement on Wednesday, November 11, 2026.
How the drugs were found
According to the Tax Agency, the containers were loaded at Tema on August 2 and arrived at the port of Valencia aboard a container ship on August 22. A customs risk-analysis unit had selected them for inspection after assessing them as "presenting a high risk profile".
Inspectors found false bottoms in the wooden crates carrying the declared cargo of coconuts. Beneath them, the agency said, was a layer of packages "of the type commonly used to transport cocaine" in each box. Field tests confirmed the white powder was cocaine.
Two people held in Almería
After seizing the drugs, officers tracked the containers as they left the port. The goods were moved into two refrigerated lorries and driven to a warehouse on the La Juaida industrial estate in Almería, in southern Spain.
Officers watched the unloading there and then detained two people in the municipality of Viator, the Tax Agency said: the importer of the goods and the person responsible for unloading them. Spanish authorities have not named them.
What is not known
Spanish authorities have not said where the cocaine was placed in the crates or whether Ghanaian agencies took part in the investigation. The Spanish statement does not name the Ghanaian exporter of the coconuts or the importing company in Spain, 3News noted. Loading at Tema does not, on its own, show where the drugs entered the supply chain.
Beyond the NACOC arrest, GhEcho found no public comment from the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority or the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority at the time of writing.
The operation involved the Customs Surveillance Service's Valencia and Almería units and the Guardia Civil's organised-crime units in Valencia, according to the Tax Agency.