In partnership with the Ghana Police Service, Bank of Ghana officials detained over 70 persons and companies engaged in the business of purchasing and selling foreign currencies without a licence from the central bank.
The action comes after the two organizations undertook a special operation on foreign exchange parallel market operators, also known as black market operators.
The criminals who were discovered in Accra's Central Business District, notably Rawlings Park, Makola, and Tudu, are anticipated to face prosecution.
The 'Black Market' traders are claimed to be contributing to the local currency's fast depreciation against the dollar and other major foreign currencies.
Adjoa Konadu Torto, Head of Forex Exchange Bureau at the Bank of Ghana, told Citi News following the exercise that the action is part of steps to stem the wild decline of the local currency.
"This specific operation was part of the Bank's wider aim to clean up the currency market." Other measures being implemented include "intensified public sensitization and media engagements to educate the general public about forex rules and regulations, including the need to avoid the black market," she said.
She said the experiment will be repeated in other sections of the country in the following days.
The Bank also issued a stern warning to the general people to refrain from engaging in the services of unlicensed foreign exchange enterprises.
"The Bank warns the general public against engaging in foreign exchange transactions without a license." Members of the general population who support the operations of black market operators are equally responsible in the eyes of the law. "The general people must always trade with regulated foreign exchange (forex) bureaux of the Bank of Ghana," she said.