The Director-General of the Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC), Brigadier General Maxwell Obuba Mantey, has warned that the illicit tobacco trade poses serious public health risks and causes significant economic losses to governments worldwide.

According to him, illegal tobacco products deprive governments of billions in tax revenues annually, undermine legitimate businesses, fuel organised crime networks, and expose consumers to dangerous counterfeit and unregulated products.

Brig Gen Mantey made these remarks during the opening of a Training of Trainers workshop on illicit tobacco trade on Monday, April 27, 2026, at the Bureau of National Intelligence (BNI) Training School in Tesano, Accra.

The week-long workshop, organised by the National Security Council Secretariat in partnership with Sahel Holding Security, seeks to strengthen the capacity of frontline officers to detect and combat the growing menace of illicit tobacco trafficking.

The training forms part of broader national efforts to safeguard public health, protect state revenue, and dismantle criminal networks involved in the illicit tobacco trade.

Brig Gen Mantey explained that the training would equip officers stationed at the country’s entry and exit points with the knowledge, skills, and tools needed to identify, investigate, and disrupt illicit tobacco operations using modern intelligence-led approaches.
He further noted that the programme would “improve inter-agency coordination and intelligence sharing among participating institutions, encouraging stronger collaboration in tackling cross-border criminal activities”.

He added that the workshop is also expected to produce a pool of trained facilitators who will transfer the knowledge acquired to other officers within their respective institutions, thereby expanding the impact of the initiative nationwide.

Participating agencies include NACOC, the Bureau of National Intelligence, National Security, the Ghana Immigration Service, the Ghana Police Service, Ghana Ports and Harbour Security, and the Food and Drugs Authority.