Major General Maxwell Obuba Mantey, the Director-General of the Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC), has explained why the commission collaborated with other security agencies in an operation that led to the arrest of Frederick Kumi, commonly known as Abu Trica.
It will be recalled that in an interview on Lawson TV on June 1, 2026, Alexander Twum-Barimah, the Deputy Director-General of NACOC, stated that the operation to arrest businessman and socialite Abu Trica lasted 12 hours.
According to the Deputy Director-General of NACOC, there was a court order issued for Abu Trica’s arrest, revealing that it took 12 hours to execute the operation, involving three teams who played different roles.
“The operation lasted about 12 hours. Three teams were involved: two operating in Accra and one in the Central Region. So how are you using a 1-minute 20-second video to judge a 12-hour operation? It was a 12-hour operation, and that was the order of the court”, he stated.
Major General Maxwell Obuba Mantey, during his appearance at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) sitting, was questioned by the committee’s Vice-Chairperson, Opoku Ansah Davis, about why NACOC, which specialises in drug-related offences, was involved in an operation concerning cybercrime.
He disclosed, “Honourable, we have so many MOUs with our partners, and we demand the same from them when we need their support. I have some specialised units, purely funded by some of our partners, and as part of the MOU, we work with their intelligence agencies, and so when they are handicapped, we work with them.
“In this particular case, we worked with the Cyber Authority; we worked with the CID; we worked with the police, and at the time that they needed that particular operation to be conducted, narcotics was best suited for it,” he explained.
“Let me say proudly that we have a very professional team that can do so many things that people are not privy to. The only thing is that we don’t come public, and so for this particular operation, they needed narcotics specialists to do it, and that is why they did it,” he said.
“You’d be surprised to know that I was personally there when they first hit the targets, just to be sure that the things were rightly done,” he added.
“So, it is not that we do things outside our scope. We work within the MOU with our partners and with the laws of the land. When it became necessary for us to hand them over to the CID for onward movement, we handed them over without holding back,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Digital investigations professional David N A Quarcoo, who describes himself as a confidant of Ghanaian businessman Frederick Kumi, popularly known as Abu Trica, has dismissed claims that he has named individuals in connection with his alleged US$8 million romance scam case.
According to Mr Quarcoo, Abu Trica has neither named nor mentioned any individual in relation to the case, describing the alleged reports suggesting otherwise as fake.
David N A Quarcoo stated, “Since the last court time that Abu Trica went, he hasn’t even seen his lawyer again. I speak to the lawyer three times a week. How can that be a case that we are going through discovery? How can he mention names?
This morning, Abu Trica and I were talking about this on a video call, and we were just laughing over the matter,” he said.
His video comes on the heels of reports circulating on social media alleging that Abu Trica, who is currently facing trial in the United States over an alleged US$8 million romance fraud case, has named a prominent Ghanaian politician.
According to the reports, Abu Trica allegedly disclosed during questioning that a prominent politician from the Central Region, who currently holds a government position, and several other individuals were allegedly linked to a romance scam operation.
The reports further claim that the names of the individuals allegedly mentioned have been shared with security authorities in both Ghana and the United States as investigations into the case continue.
However, the allegations circulating on social media have not been independently verified.
Watch the video below:
The Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) has explained to the Public Accounts Committee why it collaborated with foreign agencies to assist in the arrest of Abu Trica. [🎥: Parliament TV] https://t.co/wt4HUh7GWE
— SIKAOFFICIAL🦍 (@SIKAOFFICIAL1) October 20, 2026
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