Madar (Ouagadougou) - Burkina Faso's customs services have seized 2,310 sticks of explosives and 7,500 detonators in two separate operations, which the Directorate General of Customs presented to the press in Ouagadougou on Tuesday, 27 October 2026, Lefaso.net reported.
According to customs officers, the explosives were found after an accident involving a transit truck carrying drinks to Ouagadougou; the driver allegedly tried to hide the cargo before being arrested. He said a contact in Ghana had given him the goods to take towards the border and that he believed he was carrying cyanide for gold miners, only realising what it was when the truck overturned.
The second operation netted 7,500 detonators, packed in 75 boxes of 100, on a passenger bus after a tail that led to the arrest of two people. One of them said the products were meant for gold mining sites, with a client in Ghana and resale in Cote d'Ivoire. Lefaso.net noted that the evidence presented does not by itself establish that destination.
The director general of customs, Dr Yves Kafando, questioned the logic of the trade route and called the products "very harmful" to citizens' lives, the environment and animals. He announced tougher enforcement, recalling that penalties were recently toughened by the Transitional Legislative Assembly.
