3.9 tonnes of cocaine in a “plastic waste” container from Ghana: what is known about the Dunkirk case

On Monday 7 September 2026, French customs officers at the port of Dunkirk, in northern France, opened a container whose papers said it came from Ghana and held plastic waste. Inside they found 167 bales of cocaine, almost 3.9 tonnes, with an estimated street value of €225 million. The seizure was announced on 10 September, the date most Ghanaian outlets use. French reports say the cargo was bound for Antwerp.

The Dutch trail

Six days before the seizure, on 1 September, there was what Dutch prosecutors describe as a violent outburst at a house in the village of Overasselt in the Netherlands. Dutch media report that a 51-year-old security guard was shot dead there.

According to the Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM), the investigation that followed led to a 28-year-old man from Overasselt, who was arrested near Soest in Germany on 18 September and handed over to the Netherlands on 15 October. Prosecutors suspect him of involvement in an attempt to import 3,857 kilos of cocaine found in containers at Dunkirk on 7 September. A second suspect was arrested in Dordrecht on 4 September.

The OM release does not mention Ghana. The link to the Ghana container rests on the date and the weight, which match the Dunkirk seizure.

The cases in Accra

The Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) began making arrests on 12 September. Ten people have been charged in two courts.

On 16 September four accused, among them a businessman known as "Biggs", his fiancée and a man known as "Kromo", appeared at the High Court in Accra. All four pleaded not guilty and were remanded to 13 October. QMS has found no report of what happened at that hearing.

On 17 September six more accused appeared at the Kwabenya Circuit Court and were refused bail. Four of them are officers of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA). On 20 October the case was adjourned to 5 November, when it returns to court.

Further arrests were reported on 23 October and more charges on 27 October. QMS has not confirmed who those people are, or whether they overlap with the ten.

What the prosecution alleges

According to the charge facts reported by MyJoyOnline and 3News, the prosecution alleges that Customs scan images showed anomalies before the cargo left Ghana and that the containers were not examined further. These are allegations that have not been tested in court, and every accused person is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Ghana's charge sheet refers to four containers; the French prosecutor has referred to one. The Dutch OM release speaks of "containers".

Martin Kpebu, a lawyer for one of the High Court accused, said on 27 October that NACOC cannot link his client to the drugs and that the charge sheet itself attributes the consignment to another suspect.

NACOC's Deputy Director-General, Alexander Twum-Barimah, has said only two groups of people sit in the port scanning room: Customs officers and staff of the port operator, Meridian Port Services (MPS).

"Bolle Jos"

On 14 September NACOC announced arrests it linked to the network of Jos Leijdekkers, a Dutch fugitive known as "Bolle Jos". NL Times and OCCRP reported the claim. The link is NACOC's; the French prosecutor has not named Mr Leijdekkers.

Mr Leijdekkers, 35, was sentenced in absentia to 24 years in prison in Rotterdam and to 79 years in Belgium. Dutch authorities believe he has lived in Sierra Leone since 2024. On 2 November the OM raised the reward for information leading to his arrest from €200,000 to €2 million, the highest reward ever offered in the Netherlands.

Two governments

In 2018, under President Nana Akufo-Addo's NPP government, NACOC was taken off the list of agencies that jointly inspect containers at the ports. That description is disputed. Sammy Gyamfi says NACOC was removed and that it weakened drug checks; Dominic Nitiwul disputes that account; and Kofi Brako-Powers says there is no data showing the 2018 decision caused the rise in seizures.

The Dunkirk seizure happened under President John Dramani Mahama's NDC government, in office since January 2025. On 17 September Mr Mahama met security chiefs, returned NACOC to container inspections and gave an inter-agency task force two weeks to deliver a roadmap. GRA Commissioner-General Anthony Sarpong told Parliament's Public Accounts Committee in mid-October that a preliminary report has gone to the President, according to Adom Online. Its contents have not been published.

In Parliament, Speaker Alban Bagbin ruled on 29 September that the NPP Minority's motion for a parliamentary inquiry was inadmissible. The Minority filed a review of that ruling on 3 November.

Not the first

By JoyNews Research's count, Ghana has been linked to 11 cocaine cases since March 2025, about 16 tonnes in total, and the biggest loads were seized abroad, not at home. By the same count, no one has been convicted in any of the major cases.

The Ghana Revenue Authority, NACOC, Meridian Port Services and the Office of the President are invited to respond. Any response or correction will be added to this story.

White Cargo is a five-part QMS Documentary series on Ghana-linked cocaine. This story is based on the episode's script and research pack. All accused persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty.