Police in Ghana have arrested seven people in connection with separate investigations into child trafficking and the sexual exploitation of children, as authorities intensify efforts to dismantle a suspected trafficking syndicate operating across the country.
Investigators are also searching for a missing five-year-old girl believed to have been trafficked through the same criminal network.
One of the suspects in custody is a midwife whose name has been withheld. She works at a hospital in Osu, Accra, and police suspect she played a role in the unlawful movement of children linked to the trafficking ring.
Addressing journalists in Accra on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service, Commissioner of Police Lydia Yaako Donkor, disclosed that the investigation forms part of a wider international operation involving the Australian Federal Police and INTERPOL.
She explained that INTERPOL Accra received intelligence in January 2026 from INTERPOL Canberra and the Crimes Against Children Unit of the INTERPOL General Secretariat after a suspect was arrested in Australia in 2025.
According to COP Donkor, investigations indicated that the Australian suspect allegedly obtained child sexual abuse material from facilitators based in Ghana and transferred money to them in return. All identified victims in the case are Ghanaian children.
A coordinated operation involving INTERPOL Accra and the Child Digital Forensics and Cybercrime Unit later led to arrests in the Ashanti and Bono regions.
Police arrested two suspects in the Ashanti Region and rescued two children aged between seven and 13. A third suspect was subsequently apprehended in the Bono Region, where two additional victims, aged six and seven, were also rescued.
Authorities said two of the suspects are related to the victims.
“Sadly, in the current case under investigation, the offenders are close relatives of the victims, specifically an older brother and a mother who ordinarily and under the law are responsible for the custody and care of the children,” COP Donkor stated.
The three suspects remain in police custody assisting with investigations, while the rescued children are receiving care and psychosocial support from DOVVSU, the Department of Social Welfare and the NGO Abuse Relief Corps.
COP Donkor also warned the public that offences involving child sexual abuse under Section 62(1)(a), (b), (c) and (d) of the Cyber Security Act, 2020 (Act 1038), attract penalties including fines, prison terms of up to 10 years, or both.
“I want to caution the general public that the police is actively collaborating with international partners and all relevant stakeholders to combat this crime, which dehumanises victims, negatively affects their self-esteem, and places their future in jeopardy,” she said, according to a report.
In a separate development, the CID announced another arrest connected to an ongoing child trafficking investigation that began on April 10, 2026, after the Kasoa Divisional DOVVSU received a report about a missing seven-year-old girl.
Investigators said the child was allegedly lured away by suspects who promised to take her to see her biological mother.
Police believe the girl was kept temporarily at another location before she was later returned to Kasoa and instructed not to speak about the incident. She has since been rescued.
As investigations deepened, officers uncovered two more alleged victims, a 10-month-old baby and a five-year-old girl, who were reportedly taken from their mother under the pretext of providing care.
The infant was traced to the Ashanti Region, where police alleged the child had been sold to another group of suspects for GH¢35,000. The baby has since been reunited with the family.
The latest suspect arrested in the case is the midwife overseeing the maternity and labour ward at the hospital in Osu.
Preliminary findings suggest she allegedly received the seven-year-old girl from another suspect after paying GH¢20,000.
Police further allege that she later paid an additional GH¢35,000 to arrange the transfer of the missing five-year-old girl to a couple believed to be residing in Pokuase near Agya Herbal.
The child is still missing.
“The police have gathered intelligence suggesting that the syndicates have been involved in child trafficking activities for a considerable period,” COP Donkor said.
She also appealed to the couple suspected of keeping the child to surrender her to authorities.
“The Ghana Police Service is appealing to the couple holding the child in their custody at Pokuase, to voluntarily hand over the child to the nearest police station or contact the police immediately to assist ongoing investigations,” she said.
