| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1993 |
| Jurisdiction | Republic of Ghana |
| Headquarters |  Ghana |
| Agency executive |
|
| Parent agency | Ministry of Interior (Ghana) |
The Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) is a Ghanaian agency under the Ministry of Interior. [1] It is the agency concerned with the formulation and enforcement of narcotics laws in the country. The board's work is aimed at preventing the use, import, and export of narcotics.
The agency has three main functions, supervised by the Interior Ministry. [1] The functions consist of the following:
The board regularly has inspectorates at various entry points of the country, particularly airports and seaports. Regular sweeps are conducted on marine vessels and on passengers at airports as part of security checks.During these inspections, if any suspected narcotic products are found, they are confiscated by the board and tested to determine their substance. The offenders are then brought before the courts to face legal proceedings. The confiscated narcotic products are subsequently destroyed to prevent their redistribution. One such burning was done in June 2010 when the board destroyed 167 kilograms of seized cocaine at the Teshie Shooting Range in Accra. [2]
In 2009, NACOB announced a one-year campaign "to raise public awareness of the harmful effects of illicit drugs on the economic, social, political and cultural aspects of the country and its security." [3] The campaign's theme was "Do Drugs Control Your Life?", and it featured movie screenings, TV and radio discussions, and competitions for paintings and essays. [3] The campaign was targeted primarily at high-school juniors and seniors. [3]
NACOB forms partnerships with other agencies both in and outside of Ghana. One such collaboration led to the formation of the Operation West Bridge project in 2007, which was introduced at Ghana's Kotoka International Airport by the UK government. This collaboration has led to the interception of illicit drugs worth 214 million British pounds since its inception. [4]
NACOB in combating narcotic drug trafficking organizes training programmes for its staff and gathers intelligence on the illicit drug trade. [5] The result of these has been a reduction in the illicit drug trade. [5] One of the board's successes came in 2004 when the Customs Office of the United Kingdom commended the board for seizing 42 kilograms of cocaine concealed in sacks of rice imported from Guyana at Tema Port in two 20-foot containers in September 2003. [6]
Problems that faces the board include the lack of adequate resources as well as remuneration for law enforcement personnel. [5] [7]
The illegal drug trade, drug trafficking, or narcotrafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs through the use of drug prohibition laws. The think tank Global Financial Integrity's Transnational Crime and the Developing World report estimates the size of the global illicit drug market between US$426 and US$652 billion in 2014 alone. With a world GDP of US$78 trillion in the same year, the illegal drug trade may be estimated as nearly 1% of total global trade. Consumption of illegal drugs is widespread globally, and it remains very difficult for local authorities to reduce the rates of drug consumption.
Clandestine chemistry is chemistry carried out in secret, and particularly in illegal drug laboratories. Larger labs are usually run by gangs or organized crime intending to produce for distribution on the black market. Smaller labs can be run by individual chemists working clandestinely in order to synthesize smaller amounts of controlled substances or simply out of a hobbyist interest in chemistry, often because of the difficulty in ascertaining the purity of other, illegally synthesized drugs obtained on the black market. The term clandestine lab is generally used in any situation involving the production of illicit compounds, regardless of whether the facilities being used qualify as a true laboratory.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is a United Nations office that was established in 1997 as the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention by combining the United Nations International Drug Control Program (UNDCP) and the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division in the United Nations Office at Vienna, adopting the current name in 2002.
The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988 is one of three major drug control treaties currently in force. It provides additional legal mechanisms for enforcing the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances. The Convention entered into force on November 11, 1990. As of June 2020, there are 191 Parties to the Convention. These include 186 out of 193 United Nations member states and the Holy See, the European Union, the Cook Islands, Niue, and the State of Palestine.
A border guard of a country is a national security agency that performs border security. Some of the national border guard agencies also perform coast guard and rescue service duties.
The Anti-Narcotics Force is a federal executive bureau and a paramilitary force of the Government of Pakistan, tasked with combating the narcotics smuggling and use within Pakistan. ANF works under the umbrella of Pakistan Army and Ministry of Narcotics Control (Pakistan) of which Mohsin Raza Naqvi is the minister since March 2024. Due to misconception on Section 4 of ANF ACT 1997, the force's head consisted of the active-duty general officer of Pakistan Army. Although the law prescribes that any competent person may be appointed as Director-General. Currently, a two-star Army Officer, Major general Muhammad Aniq Ur Rehman Malik is deputed as Director-General. The ANF also has sole responsibility for coordinating and pursuing Pakistan narcotics investigations abroad.
Law enforcement in Azerbaijan comes under the control of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan, which administers the National Police of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Admitted to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) on 30 January 1992, with an OSCE office opening in Baku on 16 November 1999. It is a member of INTERPOL.
The illegal drug trade in China is influenced by factors such as history, location, size, population, and current economic conditions. China has one-sixth of the world's population and a large and expanding economy. China's large land mass, close proximity to the Golden Triangle, Golden Crescent, and numerous coastal cities with large and modern port facilities make it an attractive transit center for drug traffickers. Opium has played an important role in the country's history since before the First and Second Opium Wars in the mid-19th century.
The Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre, based in Lisbon, is an initiative by 6 EU Member Countries and the UK and is co-funded by the Internal Security Fund of the European Union.
The Narcotics Control Bureau is an Indian central law enforcement and intelligence agency under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. The agency is tasked with combating drug trafficking and the use of illegal substances under the provisions of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) is a federal law enforcement agency in Nigeria under the Federal Ministry of Justice charged with eliminating the growing, processing, manufacturing, selling, exporting, and trafficking of hard drugs. The agency was established by Decree Number 48 of 1989. The NDLEA is present in international airports, seaports, and border crossings. The NDLEA also targets the leaders of narcotics and money laundering organizations.
Narcotics in Bolivia, South America, is a subject that primarily involves the coca crop, used in the production of the drug, cocaine. Trafficking and corruption have been two of the most prominent negative side-effects of the illicit narcotics trade in Bolivia and the country's government has engaged in negotiations with the United States (US) as result of the industry's ramifications.
The illegal drug trade in Latin America concerns primarily the production and sale of cocaine and cannabis, including the export of these banned substances to the United States and Europe. The coca cultivation is concentrated in the Andes of South America, particularly in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia; this is the world's only source region for coca.
Slovakia is a Central European country with a history of relatively low crime. While crime became more widespread after the Revolutions of 1989, it remains low when compared to many other post-communist countries.
The Federal Drug Control Service of the Russian Federation or FSKN was a federal law enforcement agency of executive authority authorized to combat illicit drug trafficking. It was responsible for drafting state policy, legal regulation, control and monitoring in combating the trafficking of drugs, psychotropic substances, and their precursors. It was commonly known as The Drugs Police (Наркополиция).
The Ministry of the Interior is a ministry of the government of Ghana.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the drug trade in West Africa rapidly expanded amid dramatic increases in US and European demand for cocaine, cannabis, and other drugs. This resulted in the expansion of two distinct trade routes, both of which went through West Africa. One route exported domestically produced cannabis from West Africa to South Africa, Europe, and Asia. The other trade route moved cocaine from Latin America and heroin from Afghanistan and Southeast Asia to Europe and the United States. In both of these routes, drug traffickers took advantage of trading networks created by Malian and Berber traders in colonial times to move drugs through the region, as well as West Africa's broader geographical location as an intermediate stop from Latin America and Southwest Asia to Europe and the United States. This was due in part to West Africa's badly policed borders, endemic corruption, and economic inequalities.
East African drug trade refers to the sale and trafficking of illegal drugs that take place in East African countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Somalia, and Ethiopia. The most prevalent types of drugs traded in East Africa are heroin, marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, and khat, all of which are strictly prohibited in East African countries.
The illegal drug trade in Japan is the illegal production, transport, sale, and use of prohibited drugs in Japan. The drug trade is influenced by various factors, including history, economic conditions, and cultural norms. While methamphetamine is historically the most widely trafficked illegal drug in post-World War II Japan, marijuana, cocaine, and other prohibited substances are also present. Additionally, Japan's status as a developed economy and the presence of organized crime in Japan have made it a target of the international drug trade.
Maritime drug smuggling into Australia refers to the smuggling of illicit drugs into Australia by sea. While much contemporary Australian media coverage has focused on smaller, more personalised smuggling cases such as the Bali Nine, maritime drug smuggling often allows criminal groups to move illicit drugs and substances into Australia at a much greater scale. This has happened through a variety of ways, including via cargo ship, yacht, and fishing vessels. Key departure locations for drugs aimed to be smuggled into Australia include China, India, Southeast Asia, and the Americas, with much of the drugs trafficked via countries and territories in the South Pacific, in close proximity to Australia.
| Ministries and agencies in Ghana | |
|---|---|
| Ministry of Interior | |
| Ministry of Education | |
| Ministry of Youth and Sports | |
| Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning | |
| Ministry of Trade and Industry | |
| Ministry of Health | |
| Ministry of Communication and Technology | |
| Ministry of Defence | |
| Ministry of Transport | |
| Ministry of Energy | |
| Ministry of Food and Agriculture | |
| Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation |
|
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
