The four suspects
Five people sustained injuries and four others, including the Assembly Member for Bonteso, were arrested on Wednesday, August 13, 2025, after a violent clash between the Ghana Police Service’s Anti-Illegal Mining Task Force and residents of Manso Bonteso in the Amansie West District in the Ashanti Region.
The confrontation broke out when the task force moved in to seize an excavator suspected of being used for illegal mining activity, popularly known as galamsey.
Police said that as they began loading the machine onto a truck, some residents, allegedly mobilised by Assembly Member Patrick Asare, blocked exit routes and hurled stones at the officers.
According to the police, two individuals in the crowd also fired pump-action shotguns, injuring ASP Bawah Abdul Jalil and G/Sgt. Agblekpe Mawuena Yao. Officers responded with live rounds, reportedly to “neutralise the threat” and secure their exit. The excavator was eventually impounded and taken to the Manso Adubia Police Station.
Community leaders, however, have accused the police of using excessive force. The Unit Committee Secretary, Samuel Manu, claimed that unarmed residents were shot, leaving five injured and two electricity transformers damaged, plunging parts of the town into darkness.
Those arrested, Patrick Asare, Akwesi Amponsah, Osei Vasco, and Owusu Alexander, are being held at the Manso Adubia Police Station and are expected to be transferred to Accra for further investigations.
The Amansie West District Chief Executive (DCE), Prince Manu Morrison, said the incident might have been a misunderstanding. He explained that the excavator was being used to collect sand from an old mining pit for construction purposes, which officers may have mistaken for illegal mining.
He confirmed that the injured are receiving treatment, and that calm had been restored in the community. The DCE also denied reports that additional military or police personnel had been deployed to the area.
By Prince Fiifi Yorke & David Afum, Bonteso