Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng
The Excavator Tracking Taskforce of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining on Saturday arrested a Chinese and six Ghanaians in the Amansie West District of the Ashanti Region for engaging in illegal mining.
The suspects were handed over to the Amansie West Police, but the six Ghanaians surprisingly escaped from police custody.
The taskforce said the Chinese would be handed over to the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) for the necessary action to be taken.
Some of the items seized from the suspects included five pump action guns, ammunition, CCTV monitors, a recorder and sand containing gold ore.
Meniru Ahmed, a member of the Excavator Tracking Taskforce, told journalists during a media briefing in Accra on Sunday that the taskforce arrested the illegal miners upon a tip-off.
He said the suspects were engaging in illegal mining under the pretext of reclaiming some mined out areas in the Amansie West District.
He said after the arrest, the taskforce handed the suspects to the police in order to follow up on leads to an illegal mining site.
However, Mr Ahmed said upon return to the police station, they did not meet any of the police personnel and realized that six Ghanaians had escaped from the cells.
Mr Meniru said that while they were at the mining site some police personnel came there to arrest them on the request of one of the illegal miners.
He, therefore, appealed to the government to assist the taskforce in its efforts to halt illegal mining, otherwise known as “galamsey.”
Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, the Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, said the committee was making progress in the fight against illegal mining.
He said it would not be discouraged by some miscreants who were still engaged in illegal mining secretly despite the ban.
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng, who is also the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, called for collaborative efforts from all Ghanaians to tackle the menace, saying that government was training artisanal small-scale miners to engage in sustainable mining.
He said the committee would launch investigation into the escape of the six Ghanaians and those found culpable would be dealt with accordingly.
GNA