The Inspector-General of Police’s Special Operations Team has arrested 74 suspects, including eight Nigerians, in two major intelligence-led operations targeting narcotics trafficking and related criminal activities in Ghana’s Upper East Region.

The coordinated actions, conducted in the border town of Paga and within the Navrongo Municipality, are part of a broader security push by the Ghana Police Service to disrupt drug networks and clamp down on violent crime in vulnerable border and inland communities.

In the first operation, carried out in the Paga enclave along the Ghana–Burkina Faso buffer zone, officers from the Special Operations Team stormed suspected hideouts believed to serve as transit and distribution points for narcotics. The raid led to the arrest of 40 suspects, made up of 28 males and 12 females.

Police said those picked up included 23 Ghanaians, eight Nigerians, six Burkinabés, one Malian and one Togolese national, underscoring the transnational character of the alleged criminal network. Parcels and sacks of substances believed to be narcotic drugs were seized, alongside five motorbikes suspected to have been used to ferry drugs across informal routes along the border.

A second swoop followed in the Navrongo Municipality, where the Special Operations Team moved on identified crime hotspots, including the Condemned Road Corridor, the “After Six” spot and the “Lighter Inn” entertainment area. That operation resulted in the arrest of 34 additional suspects, comprising 32 males and two females.

During the Navrongo raids, officers retrieved 11 motorbikes, quantities of suspected narcotic substances and assorted foreign cigarettes, which investigators believe may be linked to smuggling and illicit trade networks operating in the area.

All 74 suspects were quickly processed and arraigned before High Court Two in Navrongo, presided over by Justice Ernest Pascal Gemadzie. According to police, 16 of the suspects were remanded into custody and are expected to reappear before the court at a later date, while 22 others are being profiled for possible further charges.

The Ghana Police Service said all those arrested remain in custody assisting with investigations, as security agencies intensify efforts to track down additional suspects and dismantle the wider criminal structures believed to be operating along the northern corridor and its porous borders.