Health Ministry, FDA destroy seized opioids
The Ministry of Health and the Foods and Drugs Authority (FDA) have destroyed a large consignment of opioids intercepted at the Tema Port last month.
A total of 230 cartons of opioids were destroyed in yesterday’s exercise which was undertaken at a private incinerator at Katamanso, near Ashaiman, in the Greater Accra Region.
They included 128 cartons of tafradol, 92 cartons of timaking tapentadol and 10 cartons of rahol tapentadol.
The destruction was witnessed by the Registrar of the High Court, personnel of the FDA, the Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC), as well as the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology, based on the orders of the Accra High Court.
Also present at the destruction was the Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the FDA, Dr Delese Mimi Darko.
Background
The consignment of undeclared opioid pharmaceuticals, worth GH¢20 million, was purportedly in transit to the land-locked West African state, Niger.
They were seized following a joint operation by regulatory and intelligence agencies at the Tema Port on March 14, this year.
The shipment was seized following a coordinated inspection involving the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the NACOC, National Security, the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB), the FDA, and the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA).
The consignment included a large quantity of opioid pharmaceuticals, laced with other drugs, raising concerns over illicit drug trafficking through Ghana’s ports.
Briefing
Briefing journalists at Vigour Enterprise, a private incinerator at Katamanso Newland in the Greater Accra Region, Mr Akandoh said the safe disposal of the items followed a court order secured for their destruction.
On March 14, 2025, a team of NACOC, FDA and GRA Customs Division officials impounded the consignment of opioids being transported under the guise of transiting from Ghana to Niger.
After impounding the consignment, the state sought a court order for the destruction of the opioids.
The courts granted the destruction application with clear orders, including the venue for destruction and the people who must witness the destruction.
Way forward
Mr Akandor said after the safe disposal of the consignment, the government was going further to interrogate and investigate the client, agent and the importer.
"Our information indicates that the importer is not a Ghanaian. The goods were being transported to Niger.
And so, we are in touch with the Niger government to know whether or not they okayed such a consignment into their country,” the minister said.
“Even if the Niger government has okayed such a consignment, our borders, our ports, our airports will never be used as a haven," Mr Akandoh stressed.
He said the ministry had waged a war against the influx of opioids in the country and would continue to monitor whatever was going on at the ports and harbours.
Mr Akandor reiterated that only the Kotoka International Airport and the Tema Port had been designated for the import and export of drugs, as such the government had instructed the security agencies, including the Customs Division of GRA, to impound whatever drugs they got at any of the land borders.
On the ongoing investigations, he said customs officials had been instructed to hand over the culprits to the Office of the Attorney-General once they finished the investigation to pave the way for their prosecution.
Collaboration
For her part, the CEO of the FDA said her outfit would continue to collaborate with the Customs Division and other regulatory bodies at the various ports to ensure that such illegal drugs were not sneaked through.
"We have increased our border presence. At the airport, we're now working 24 hours. So, we're going to start working 24 hours at the airport, so that our consignment cards are not evaded," Dr Darko said.
Dangerous opioids
Opioids are strong painkillers or narcotics.
They activate an area of nerve cells in the brain and body called opioid receptors that block pain signals between the brain and the body.
Codeine, heroin, hydrocodone, morphine, oxycodone, and fentanyl are examples of opioids.
When used over time, a person using opioids can become tolerant and addictive, paving the way for its side effects, such as drowsiness, euphoria, nausea, vomiting, slowed breathing and constipation to hold sway.
They can develop opioid use disorder, with the risk of overdose and death.
Tafrodol, for instance, is a combination of the very addictive painkiller, Tapentadol, and Carisoprodol, known to be a strong muscle relaxant.
Many advanced countries consider the drug risky so they put measures in place to control it, and many others are banning it.
“No country in the world allows the legal sale of Tapentadol-Carisoprodol combinations as the formulation makes no sense clinically and the prospects of abuse and harm are so high as to render them literal poisons,” a social innovator and entrepreneur, Bright Simons, points out in a published article.
