Credit: Kekeli K. Blamey
The Bono Regional Office of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has seized three heavy-duty trucks loaded with bags of cocoa and lumber suspected of being smuggled to neighboring countries, including Burkina Faso, Togo, or Cote D’Ivoire.
The trucks, with registration numbers GR 7237-21, AS 5278-23, and GR 314-24, were impounded at Nkrankwanta in the Dormaa West District of the Bono Region.
According to Mr. Michael Paddy Kwasi Asumanu, the Bono Regional Administrator of COCOBOD, the trucks were seized after a tip-off, but the drivers managed to escape.
The drivers had attempted to conceal the cocoa by covering it with lumber, but their plan was foiled by COCOBOD officials. The trucks have since been handed over to the Bono Regional Office of the Forestry Commission (FC) in Sunyani.
COCOBOD is currently working on obtaining a court order to take possession of the seized cocoa. Meanwhile, the Deputy Bono Regional Manager of the FC, Mr. Emmanuel Ntiako, stated that his office has yet to receive details of the lumber.
