Bright Simons, the Vice President of Policy Think Tank IMANI Africa, has questioned the Energy Commission over how 320kg of meth left Ghana undetected.
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.
According to Bright Simons, 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.
Bright Simons further detailed that the Australian meth bust opens up an interesting new angle outside the Ghanaian security services.
In a post on X, Bright Simons wrote, “Remember the Sapeiman bust? The one where kilos of gold and cash were found in mysterious boxes? No serious update till now.
The Australian meth bust actually happened in April 2026. Ghanaian law enforcement have known since then. Not one word.
This bust involving charcoal however opens up an interesting new angle outside the Ghanaian security services.
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.
I once investigated a situation where Ghanaian charcoal producers were blaming the Energy Commission for delays in securing permits for export, leading to a collapse in overseas sales”.
His post further added, “What’s more, the permit process includes the intended shipping line’s details, approved export quantity, and authorised destination.
The permit bears the name of the licensee, permit validity period, and the destination. Since quotas are strictly enforced, circumvention is literally criminal.
Energy Commission, where is the data? By convention, these details are even supposed to be in the publicly inspectable register.
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.
Commercial databases only show $124k in wood exports (of which charcoal is likely a small subset) to Australia.
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.
In fact, the June 2022 Daniel Ameko/Ibrahim Fosu case was a Ghana-to-Australia meth bust using Aramex as courier. Then there was a 2025 transhipment case involving Rwandan and Nigerian nodes with Ghana as transit hub.
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.
Will the Energy Commission do better on this one? Will they? We want the data”.
Meanwhile, Rev John Ntim Fordjour, the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Defence and Interior Committee, has called on the government to account to the public after a large shipment of methamphetamine linked to Ghana that was busted in Australia.
In a post on X, Rev John Ntim Fordjour wrote, “Another major $296 million drug bust originating from our country? When I kept cautioning about Ghana becoming a transit point for drug trafficking, NDC and Jubilee House released all their attack machineries on me.
Now see the international embarrassment. @FelixKwakyeOfo1, NACOC and BNI owe this country an explanation. They shouldn’t escape accountability!”.
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
