The arrest at OR Tambo airport adds to growing pressure on Ghana to tighten checks at its air and sea ports.
A 52-year-old South African man has been arrested at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg after arriving on a flight from Accra allegedly carrying heroin valued at more than R2 million, about $122,000.
Asaase Radio reports that officers of the South African Police Service (SAPS), working with the country's Border Management Authority, stopped the traveller in what police described as an intelligence-led operation. The Border Management Authority is the South African agency responsible for policing the country's ports of entry.
A search of the man's luggage allegedly turned up bullet-shaped objects and blocks containing a substance suspected to be heroin. He is due to appear before the Kempton Park Magistrate's Court later this week on drug trafficking charges.
Police say investigators are still working to establish whether the suspect has links to organised crime networks. SAPS says the operation is part of a wider effort to break up trafficking rings through targeted enforcement at entry points.
Third arrest in three weeks
According to the police account, this is the third suspected drug courier picked up at OR Tambo in the space of three weeks. That pattern is part of why the Accra-Johannesburg route is drawing closer attention from law enforcement in both countries.
For Ghanaians abroad, the practical effect is simple: travellers on routes that have been flagged can expect more searching questions, more luggage checks and longer waits at arrival halls.
Pressure at home
The arrest lands at a difficult moment for Ghana's own border controls.
President John Dramani Mahama has given an inter-agency task force two weeks to produce a set of measures to stop narcotics moving through the country's borders. The team is expected to examine the systems Ghana currently uses to detect trafficking and hand the President a detailed roadmap within that window.
The directive followed a meeting between the President and Ghana's security chiefs on Thursday, 17 September 2026, called to review investigations into recent trafficking cases involving the country's ports. A statement from the Presidency said the meeting looked at existing security structures and recommended further steps to improve detection and prevention.
That review comes after French customs officers seized nearly 3.9 tonnes of cocaine at the port of Dunkirk on 10 September 2026. French authorities put the value of the haul at roughly €225 million. The drugs were hidden in a container of plastic waste that had come from Ghana, with part of the consignment said to be headed for Antwerp in Belgium.
Taken together, the Dunkirk seizure and the Johannesburg arrest have sharpened questions about how narcotics are getting past checks at Ghana's sea and air gateways, and how quickly the task force can propose fixes that work.
