Adansi Akrofuom DCE leads operation to arrest illegal miners

The District Chief Executive of Adansi Akrofuom in the Ashanti Region, Maurice Jonas Woode, has led an operation to arrest two illegal miners who were operating in the Supuma Forest near Betenase in the Akrofuom District.

The Operation team which included personnel from the Ghana Police Service and the Forestry Commission apprehended the miners in the forest.

 Dabge Enerst Suglo 27, and Napoba Alareku who is also 27 years old, were grabbed.

Soiree news correspondent, Yaw Opoku, in an interview with the District Chief Executive (DCE), Honourable Maurice Jones Woode said,  before the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources Honourable Samuel Jinapor declared forest reserves and water bodies as red zones, thus, restricted areas, the Assembly had already teamed up with the Forestry Commission at Betenase to sensitize them on the dangers of illegal mining and advised them always on the need to protect the forest.

He stressed that "we had information that the illegal miners had pitched camp in the area with five (5) sprinter buses and were even fighting among themselves".

The DCE further stated that they had tried on several occasions to clamp down on their activities but to no avail, and since excavators were no more used, the illegal miners adopted the 'metal detector system which is most complicated and becomes very difficult for their operations to be noticed.

He continued that, the miners upon getting wind of the presence of the operation team fled leaving their machines behind but they managed to arrest the two.

Meanwhile, the Bekwai Assistant District Manager of the Forestry Commission, Palmer Amponsah, praised Honourable Maurice Jonas Woode for his unwavering efforts to stop illegal mining in his District.

He mentioned that though the Commission is doing its best to stop the activities of illegal miners, their numbers are too small.

He called on the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to provide them with logistics judging from the new approaches adopted by the galamseyers. He said, " since the use of excavators by galamseyers have almost come to a halt, they have adopted the use of metal detectors which look like a bag. This is very difficult to detect". 

On his part, ASP  Mahama Iddrisu who is in charge of Operations at the Obuasi Divisional Command debunked the notion that the Police finds it difficult to prosecute galamseyers.

He opined that the Police needs hardcore evidence to successfully prosecute illegal miners.  

ASP Mahama Iddrisu, a former prosecutor, said the major challenge they face in the prosecution of illegal miners is the absence of factual evidence in some instances.

"The Court will always set the accused free if the evidence found against him is not strong enough," he said.

Yaw Opoku, Obuasi