Ghana has been identified as a significant source of commercial explosives reportedly finding their way into conflicts in Mali and Burkina Faso, while the country’s illicit arms trade continues to expand, according to the 2025 Global Organised Crime Index.
The assessment by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime describes arms trafficking as a notable and growing challenge in Ghana, with Accra and Kumasi identified as important centres for the distribution and acquisition of illegally traded firearms. The Index assigns Ghana an arms trafficking score of 6.50.
The report places particular emphasis on Kumasi, where it says established centres for locally manufactured firearms have developed a pool of skilled craftsmen capable of producing weapons. It attributes part of the growth of the trade to the accessibility of relatively inexpensive raw materials and the profitable prices at which locally produced firearms can be sold.
According to the assessment, these economic conditions have made illicit firearm production an attractive commercial activity, while demand for unauthorised weapons has expanded beyond communities traditionally associated with hunting and poaching.
The report indicates that illegal firearms are now sought in both urban and rural communities, where concerns surrounding criminal activity and personal security have contributed to demand for illicit weapons.
Criminal networks, the Index further states, participate in the movement and exchange of firearms within Ghana as well as across international borders. Such networks are described as providing connections between foreign arms traders and purchasers operating within local markets.
Beyond firearms, the report identifies Ghana as a principal source of commercial explosives used in conflicts elsewhere in the West African subregion, particularly in Mali and Burkina Faso.
The finding highlights the transnational character of Ghana’s illicit arms and explosives market, suggesting that the problem extends beyond the domestic circulation of unauthorised weapons and includes the movement of controlled materials across national boundaries.
The assessment also draws attention to Ghana’s trade in counterfeit merchandise. It estimates that a substantial proportion of electrical products marketed in Accra are counterfeit and may fail to comply with required safety standards. The Index gives Ghana a counterfeit goods score of 5.50.
Counterfeit pharmaceutical products are likewise identified as a longstanding concern. The report further points to specific commercial centres associated with different categories of counterfeit merchandise, including Makola, which is identified in relation to counterfeit textiles, and Abossey Okai, which is associated with the trade in imitation vehicle spare parts.
According to the assessment, a significant portion of counterfeit merchandise entering the West African market is manufactured in China before being transported into the region through Ghana’s maritime gateway at the Port of Tema.
The report additionally identifies illicit trade in excisable consumer products as another component of Ghana’s organised criminal market. Ghana receives a score of 5.00 for illicit trade in excisable goods in the 2025 Index.
Porous sections of Ghana’s international borders, particularly those adjoining Togo and Burkina Faso, are identified as facilitating the unauthorised movement of products such as tobacco and alcoholic beverages.
The Index attributes part of the incentive for this illicit trade to the comparatively high taxes imposed on certain excisable products, which can create substantial price differences between legitimate and illicit markets and thereby encourage smuggling.
The broader assessment places Ghana’s overall criminality score at 5.77, with criminal markets receiving a score of 6.03 and criminal actors receiving 5.50. These figures are assessments produced under the Index’s methodology and should not be interpreted as evidence that every Ghanaian institution, business or individual is involved in criminal activity.
The findings consequently present Ghana as a country confronting several interconnected forms of organised criminal activity, ranging from illicit firearms production and cross border arms trafficking to the movement of commercial explosives, counterfeit merchandise and untaxed consumer products.
The report’s assessment of Ghana’s arms market also comes against a wider regional security environment in which countries across the Sahel, including Mali and Burkina Faso, continue to confront armed conflict and the proliferation of illicit weapons and related materials. Ghana’s identification as a source of commercial explosives therefore adds a cross border dimension to concerns surrounding the control, distribution and movement of explosive materials in West Africa.
