Four people, including two Chinese, have been arrested in connection with illegal mining operations inside a forest reserve in the Amansie Central District of Ashanti Region.
The foreigners Huan Fubao, 39, and Yu Xin, 34, together with their Ghanaian counterparts, Kwabena Owusu, 30, and Dominic Azure, 36, were arrested by officials of the Forestry Commission (FC) in Bekwai at a mining site located deep inside the Subima Forest Reserve near Numereso.
They have since been remanded to prison custody by the Bekwai Circuit Court presided over by Mark Diboro, pending further investigation.
DAILY GUIDE gathered that the illegal miners, popularly known as galamsey operators, had cut down many trees and destroyed several hectares of the forest land when they were arrested by the task force.
Their operation was detected by forest rangers upon a tipoff and the Bekwai District Manager of Forestry Commission, Rexford Twum Damoah, said the commission was overwhelmed by the wanton devastation of the forest by the illegal miners.
He said the miners had no permit to mine let alone entering a forest reserve to destroy the protected area.
According to him, the destruction at the Subima Forest Reserve is among several others that foreigners and their Ghanaian collaborators are engaged in.
Mr. Damoah said the commission had stepped up patrol operations to prevent people from undertaking illegal activities in forest reserves, and called on the public to assist the commission with the needed information to arrest such miscreants.
By Ernest Kofi Adu