Six of the suspects after their arrest
Eight people were arrested last Friday by members of Operation Vanguard in the ongoing crackdown on illegal gold mining activities involving recalcitrant Ghanaians and some foreign nationals in the country.
The suspects were arrested in various mining locations in some communities along River Offin in the Upper Denkyira West District of the Central Region. The communities included Abora, Treposo, Akwaboso, and Subin Nkoranza.
They were operating with small barges (Changfa machines) to dredge the bed of River Offin thereby making the river unsafe for use.
Squadron Leader Robison Omane-Agyei, Public Relations Officer of the taskforce, told DAILY GUIDE that 144 changfa machines were immobilised by the taskforce in the process.
According to him, all the eight suspects and their mining equipment have since been handed over to the Dunkwa-Offin Divisional Police Command for further investigations and possible prosecution.
“The latest brings to 1,040 the number of people arrested between August 1, 2017 and February 18, 2018. Out of the number, 35 have been convicted on offences related to illegal mining,” he said.
Squadron Omane-Agyei disclosed further that 1,107 water pumping machines, 401 excavators, 60 vehicles, 57 motorbikes and 4,000 changfa machines had also been seized by the taskforce for the period under consideration in the Ashanti, Western, and Eastern Regions alone.
So far, 87 small arms and 1,382 ammunitions had been seized from illegal miners in the operation that is a collaboration between National Small Scale Miners Task Force, a special team from the 64 Infantry Battalion, Army Engineers and the Ghana Navy.
The spokesman said last Friday’s operation in the Central Region was led by the Operation Vanguard National Commander, Col. Michael Amoah-Ayisi and that the exercise targeted the Offin River.
He asserted that Col. Michael Amoah-Ayisi had declared that the fight against illegal mining would continue unabated, when he expressed the taskforce’s gratitude to the chief and people of Tontokrom in the Ashanti Region for their immense contribution.
Ghana remains Africa’s biggest gold producer after South Africa, but activities of illegal mining have been polluting the river bodies, destroying forests and degrading the environment.
Illegal miners use makeshift barges called changfas to dredge mud from river beds which is sieved for gold, a method that is forbidden by the laws of the country.
From Ernest Kofi Adu, Kumasi