Bright Simons, the Vice President of Policy Think Tank IMANI Africa, has dropped a shocking revelation concerning the Australian meth bust linked to Ghana.
It will be recalled that some days ago, the Narcotics Control Commission announced that it has opened investigations into the interception of about 320 kilograms of methamphetamine by Australian authorities.
Reports suggest the drugs were hidden in a shipment declared as charcoal and sent from Ghana to Australia.
Following the bust, authorities in Australia have since charged three people in connection with the case.
The information gathered suggests the seized consignment is valued at roughly A$296 million and is believed to be capable of supplying more than three million street-level deals.
However, Bright Simons highlighted that the Australian meth bust actually happened in April 2026, with Ghanaian law enforcement having known since but giving Ghanaians no update.
According to Bright Simons, in the last two years, Ghana has seen several such strange criminal consignments pop up with zero updates from the security services.
Bright Simons further detailed that the Australian meth bust opens up an interesting new angle outside the Ghanaian security services.
He revealed that no one can ship or tranship charcoal out of Ghana without a Charcoal Export Permit from the Energy Commission, adding that if the charcoal originates in Ghana, one needs a Charcoal Production License.
In his long write-up, Bright Simons wrote, “1. Yesterday, Australia’s border police reported that a consignment of charcoal from Ghana shipped to Port Botany in two containers contained methamphetamines worth ~$210 million in street value.
2. That’s like a lot of meth, man.
3. On the Aussie side, a British actress and an Adelaide couple have been taken into custody.
4. We are not getting any serious filla from Ghanaian security agencies. In the last two years, we have seen several of such strange criminal consignments popped up with zero updates from the security services.
5. Remember the Sapeiman bust? The one where kilos of gold and cash were found in mysterious boxes? No serious update till now.
6. The Australian meth bust actually happened in April 2026. Ghanaian law enforcement have known since then. Not one word.
7. This bust involving charcoal however opens up an interesting new angle outside the Ghanaian security services.
8. No one can ship or tranship charcoal out of Ghana without a Charcoal Export Permit from the ENERGY COMMISSION. And if the charcoal originates in Ghana, one needs a Charcoal Production License.
9. I once investigated a situation where Ghanaian charcoal producers were blaming Energy Commission for delays in securing permits for export, leading to a collapse in overseas sales.
10. What’s more, the permit process includes the intended shipping line’s details, approved export quantity, and authorised destination.
11. The permit bears the name of the licensee, permit validity period, and the destination. Since quotas are strictly enforced, circumvention is literally criminal.
12. Energy Commission, where is the data?
13. By convention, these details are even supposed to be in the publicly inspectable register.
14. So far, the only data on charcoal exports from the Energy Commission do not include Australia as an end-destination for the 13 primary exporters. Asia tops and then Europe.
15. Commercial databases only shows only $124k in wood exports (of which charcoal is likely a small subset) to Australia.
16. Regarding meth itself, Ghana is a growing node in the production of “precursors,” i.e. raw chemicals that can be turned into meth with ease (with imports supposedly regulated by NACOC), according to GI-TOC, UNODC, and other global intel services. But documented raids in Africa on actual meth factories have mostly been in South Africa and Nigeria.
17. In fact, the June 2022 Daniel Ameko/Ibrahim Fosu case was a Ghana-to-Australia meth bust using Aramex as courier.
18. Then there was a 2025 transhipment case involving Rwandan and Nigerian nodes with Ghana as transit hub.
19. Very little info has been published by the security services about all these episodes. Meanwhile, such developments raise Ghana’s risk profile for all Ghanaian travellers and businesses dealing with overseas parties.
20. Will the Energy Commission do better on this one? Will they? We want the data”.
See the post below:
1. Yesterday, Australia’s border police reported that a consignment of charcoal from Ghana shipped to Port Botany in two containers contained methamphetamines worth ~$210 million in street value.
— Bright Simons (@BBSimons) June 20, 2026
2. That’s like a lot of meth, man.
3. On the Aussie side, a British… pic.twitter.com/XCxMZB4BhP
