The 2024 Auditor-General’s Report has raised serious security concerns at Ghana’s airports after disclosing that more than 2,000 guns and ammunition were intercepted from passengers in 2023.
According to a myjoyonline.com report on January 13, 2026, the findings came under scrutiny when officials of the Ghana Airport Company Limited (GACL) appeared before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday January 13, 2026.
Vice Chairman of the Committee, Samuel Atta-Mills, citing the audit report, drew attention to what it described as an ‘increasing number of weapons and ammunition carried by passengers’ through the country’s airports.
Reading directly from the report, Atta-Mills noted that although all intercepted cases were referred to the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB), passengers involved were still allowed to board their flights due to the absence of a clear policy on handling passengers found with weapons.
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“Does it mean that they allow them to board the plane with their weapons?” he asked, describing the situation as ‘really serious’.
In response, GACL officials explained that earlier procedures required weapons found on passengers to be separated and kept in a different section of the airport until the passenger’s flight departed.
However, they told the committee that new directives have since been introduced to address the situation.
According to the current protocol, any passenger carrying a weapon is required to declare it to the Aviation Security Department.
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If the weapon is properly licensed, the passenger may be allowed to travel with it, unlicensed weapons, however, are confiscated and handed over to the NIB.
The officials added that even licensed weapons will be confiscated if a passenger fails to declare them upon arrival at the airport.
Atta-Mills said his line of questioning was intended to clarify the existing procedures and draw attention to the need for clear policies governing the handling of passengers found with weapons.
The Auditor-General’s findings suggest that the absence of a formal and standardised policy may have created a potential security vulnerability at the airports.
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