A joint investigation by Ghana’s Anti-Human Trafficking Unit and a private tracking expert has blown open a sophisticated transnational trafficking network operating across West Africa, with an estimated 2,500 Ghanaian victims believed to be held in and around Côte d’Ivoire’s Bondoukou alone, as of May 4, 2026.
The inquiry began modestly. “Through tracking, we realised a large number of the victims we were searching for had been trafficked to Côte d’Ivoire,” the private investigator, who was initially engaged to locate missing persons, revealed. What followed was a far more harrowing discovery.
Victims had been recruited from all regions of Ghana and across all social classes — among them teachers, nurses, bank executives and security personnel. They were promised jobs or relocation abroad, typically to France or Canada. Instead, traffickers routed them through Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Cameroon, Senegal and Liberia, describing each stop as a transit point for documentation. None ever moved on.
With support from Ivorian security forces, investigators entered one camp in Bondoukou, where they identified between 400 and 450 victims in a single location. The camp held pregnant women, nursing mothers and children as young as two months old. Victims’ ages ranged from 16 to 60 years. Other identified trafficking hubs include Aniabrekrom, Ambegro, Songor and Noé.
Two suspected traffickers — identified as Deborah and Suzzy — were arrested during the operation and handed over to local authorities. Deborah is believed to run multiple camps across Côte d’Ivoire, with recruitment tentacles stretching into every region of Ghana. Suzzy, reportedly from Sefwi Wiaso in the Western Region, is alleged to have operated under multiple identities to lure victims, including at least 10 people from Bibiani.
The operation was led on the Ghanaian side by Superintendent William Ayariga of the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit. Despite the breakthrough, investigators did not locate the specific missing persons whose disappearances had originally triggered the probe.
Experts warn that human trafficking across West Africa has reached pandemic proportions. The persistence of the networks, even in the face of regular security checks inside Côte d’Ivoire, has raised urgent questions about enforcement gaps and the depth of complicity shielding traffickers from justice.
Ghana’s Anti-Human Trafficking Unit says investigations are continuing, but officials acknowledge that the scale of the crisis demands stronger and more coordinated cross-border action — and for thousands of families still waiting, time is running out.
By: Andrews Kwesi Yeboah