Some of the suspects at the Police Training Depot
OVER 300 SUSPECTS, who are all males, have been apprehended during a joint military-police swoop at Dadwene and Anwona, located in the Obuasi enclave in the Ashanti Region.
The Wednesday dawn raid was targeted to arrest those who recently attacked members of the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) team, police personnel, officers of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) and some Kumasi-based journalists.
The heavily-armed military and police personnel, reportedly, stormed various houses in the two aforementioned towns around 2am when the communities were quiet, and arrested every male, who are 18 years and above, as potential suspects.
All the suspects have since been taken to the Police Training Depot at Patase in Kumasi for profiling and screening to identify those who took part in the unjustifiable attacks, which also resulted in a car crash in which some journalists sustained various degrees of injuries.
Meanwhile, a press release by the Ghana Armed Forces, confirming the Wednesday morning successful raid, disclosed that similar operations were also conducted in some identified locations outside the Ashanti Region on the same day and time.
“The Ghana Armed Forces and Ghana’s Police Service are conducting simultaneous targeted and intelligence-led joint swoops in the Ashanti Region, specifically, Dadwene and Anwona, in the Volta Region at Ehi and in the Ahafo Region at Hwediem, Kenyase, Goaso and Marhani.
“The operations, which started at dawn today, Wednesday, November 12, 2025 at all the locations, aim at arresting identified persons involved in the recent attacks on members of the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) team, some Police officers and officials of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), including journalists.
“The Armed Forces and the Police Service warn that any individual or group that attempts to obstruct the operations of any of the security services in their anti-galamsey operations or in the performance of any other lawful duty, will face the full force of the law,” the statement said.
The press release, which was authored and signed by Captain Veronica Adzo Arhin, Ghana Navy, Acting Director General, Public Relations of the Ghana Armed Forces, was released on Wednesday, November 12, 2025.
The report said the Ghana Armed Forces and Ghana Police Service have put in place adequate measures to ensure the safety and security of inhabitants of the towns where they conducted the swoops, urging the people to remain calm and go about their regular duties without fear or panic.
The security services also lauded civil society groups, the media and individuals for the massive condemnation of the unwarranted attacks and disruption of activities of the security forces in their anti-galamsey drive, and called for continuous cooperation of the general public.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah, Kumasi