NACOC boss calls for practical cross-border action against drug trafficking

The Director-General of the Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC), Major-General Maxwell Obuba Mantey, has called for stronger and more practical cross-border cooperation among African countries to tackle the growing threat of synthetic drugs, cocaine trafficking and transnational organised crime. He said the changing nature of the illicit drug trade required African countries to move beyond fragmented national responses and strengthen intelligence sharing, coordinated investigations and joint operations. Major-General Mantey made the call in Ghana’s statement delivered at the closing of the 33rd Meeting of Heads of National Drug Law Enforcement Agencies, Africa (HONLEA Africa), held in Vienna, Austria, from September 8 to 11, 2026.

The meeting brought together heads and representatives of African drug law enforcement agencies to strengthen regional and subregional cooperation in addressing the world drug problem. Major-General Mantey stressed that no country, regardless of the strength of its law enforcement and border security systems, could effectively combat transnational drug trafficking alone. He said trafficking networks operate across multiple jurisdictions, with synthetic drug precursors, cocaine and illicit financial flows moving through different countries while exploiting gaps in national enforcement systems. “Cooperation is therefore not a diplomatic courtesy to be affirmed in closing statements; it is the operational prerequisite for any of our national strategies to be successful,” he said. The NACOC Director-General advocated a “neighbour-to-neighbour” approach as a practical starting point for deeper regional cooperation. He called for increased intelligence sharing, joint patrols and coordinated border management among neighbouring countries to disrupt…