Ghanaians Identified as Local Agents as GIS Cracks Down On Street Begging
The Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has apprehended several Ghanaians suspected of acting as local agents for exploitative street begging networks during a major intelligence-led anti-human trafficking operation across the Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions.
The operation, conducted in the early hours of Saturday, August 29, 2026, targeted criminal syndicates that use organised begging as a cover to traffic and control vulnerable foreign nationals, particularly women and children.
According to a press release issued by the GIS and signed by Deputy Commissioner of Immigration for Public Affairs, Maud Anima Quainoo, the exercise focused on notorious hotspots including Abossey Okai, Sabon Zongo, Madina Zongo Junction, Madina, Ashaiman and Tema in Greater Accra, and Asawase, Alabar, Akwatia Line, Dagomba Line, Sabon Zongo, Airport Junction and Aboabo within the Kumasi Metropolis.
During the swoop, officers arrested over 1,000 West African nationals engaged in illicit activities, alongside several Ghanaian nationals believed to be facilitating and profiting from the networks.
In total, 1,055 persons were apprehended, comprising 662 children, 145 men and 248 women.
The GIS said the high number of children rescued underscores serious concerns about child vulnerability and points to a growing pattern of child trafficking for forced begging on Ghanaian streets.
The operation also recorded a humanitarian incident when a Nigerian woman apprehended during the exercise reported feeling unwell. Upon examination by the medical team attached to the operation, she was found to be in labour and was immediately transferred to a nearby medical facility where she delivered a baby girl. She remains under medical observation.
All rescued individuals have been transferred to a designated holding centre for profiling and immigration processing, in line with established protocols.
The Service is collaborating with the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection and other stakeholders to ensure victims, especially children, receive appropriate care, protection and support.
The GIS has expressed concern over the rising incidence of migrant street begging, which contravenes Section 2(1) of the Beggars and Destitutes Act, 1969 (NLCD 392) and Section 8(1)(b) of the Ghana Immigration Service Act, 2011 (Act 750).
Describing the phenomenon as a national dilemma that has become a recurring subject of high-level dialogue, the Service has called on Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) to support its sustained efforts to clear the streets.
Meanwhile, the Comptroller-General of Immigration, Samuel Basintale Amadu, has advised the public to refrain from giving alms directly to migrant beggars, especially children, noting that removing financial incentives reduces the profitability of organised begging and discourages traffickers from exploiting vulnerable persons.
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