Vigilante groups now into ‘galamsey’ - Kwesi Aning
He said the supposedly disbanded vigilante groups have entered into law enforcement among many other illegal activities.
Jonas Danquah 
The Director, Faculty of Academic Affairs at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, Professor Emmanuel Kwesi Aning has suggested that a link exists between vigilantism, national security and illegal mining activities.
He indicated that members of the supposedly disbanded group now find themselves in law enforcement among many other illegal activities.
“Vigilante groups are now franchising the skill set that they have into law enforcement, mining, cattle rustling, logging of rosewood and taxing agricultural goods particularly charcoal" he remarked, as quoted by myjoyonline
According to him, Ghana is “seeing the beginnings of a hydra-headed monster that we need to elevate to the level of an existential threat to the state”.
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Vigilante groups now into ‘galamsey’ - Kwesi Aning
His assertion is supported by the Ashanti Regional Security Coordinator’s account of the attack on him by 7 operatives of the national security ministry.
DCOP Opare Addo had stated that 4 out of the 7 men who attacked him in his office with the buttstock of an AK-47 rifle were known members of the allegedly disbanded vigilante group – Delta Force.
Meanwhile, the second phase of Operation Halt, instituted by government to deal with the galamsey menace, has come to an end.
According to the Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul, a total of 28 excavators, 267 changfans with platforms, 18 water pumping machines and a milling machine were destroyed during the exercise.
