The IGP's Special Operations Team acted on a tip-off to seize smuggled fabrics that evaded taxes.

Published 11 Nov 2026, 22:46 GMT

2 min read

Bales of suspected counterfeit wax prints intercepted by police — Bales of the intercepted wax prints, which Tex Styles Ghana says carry imitations of its GTP designs

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The Ghana Police Service has seized a truckload of counterfeit wax prints smuggled from Nigeria bearing imitated GTP designs, valued at about GH¢20 million.

Acting on a tip-off, the Inspector-General of Police's Special Operations Team intercepted the fabrics, which entered the country without the required taxes being paid, JoyNews reported.

The operation is part of a joint anti-counterfeit drive by the police and local textile makers. Tex Styles Ghana, the company behind GTP, puts the value of the haul at GH¢20 million.

“When you check all the materials here including the ones in the truck load, it’s about GH¢20 million worth of cloth which is just going to enter the local market but for the vigilance of the team,” the company’s Environmental Sustainability Manager, Schandorf Nii Obodai, told journalists.

He said smuggling hurts the state’s tax collection as well as local textile producers, who struggle to sell while untaxed fakes flood the market.

He said the smuggled cloth could stay on the market for about two months after the festive season.

“You can imagine the amount of taxes the state may be losing just because of these smuggled items,” he said.

Mr Obodai blamed the collapse of many local textile firms on the trade in fake wax prints, at a time when Ghana is trying to rebuild the industry and grow textile exports.

“The impact of this is deeper than you can imagine because it affects production which turns to have an impact on job for our citizens in Ghana,” he said.

He warned traders against the claim that imitation cloth is printed by GTP outside Ghana, saying the company has no factory in Nigeria or elsewhere in Africa and genuine GTP cloth is produced only in Ghana.

The police Intelligence Unit has taken over the investigation to track down those behind the shipment. No arrests had been reported when the seizure was announced on Wednesday.

Araba IncoomAraba Incoom writes on multiple topics with a vast knowledge across different sector. You can almost call me an AI, after all, my initials are Araba Incoom.

Police seize GH¢20m fake GTP wax prints smuggled from Nigeria

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