An operation by a task force set up by the Mpohor District Assembly of the Western Region to flush out miscreants engaged in illegal mining (galamsey) in some river bodies in the district has led to the arrest of six young guys who were reportedly mining gold in Rivers Subiri and Butre in the area.
The names of the six suspects were given as Clement Fosu, 27, Paul Sissie, 21, Isaac Larbi, 29, Emmanuel Godzo, 29, Rafael Lewu, 27, and Subina Kwesi, 18.
According to sources, they were busy mining in the two rivers with their galamsey machines when the DISEC members who had embarked on a clampdown operation sighted them while on patrol.
DAILY GUIDE gathered that when the team members got to the site, some other young guys on seeing them took to their heels, but the six were arrested by the team. They are currently in police custody.
“The six are in police custody assisting with further investigations, while the Chanfan machines, shovels and other equipment used by the suspects in their activities were retrieved from the sites,” a source told DAILY GUIDE.
The paper also gathered that the six suspects will soon be hauled before court.
The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Mpohor, Ignatius Assah Mensah, mentioned that the current government is poised to end galamsey activities in the country.
According to him, efforts to win the fight against galamsey activities depend largely on the district chief executives in the mining communities since they are with the people at the grassroot.
He mentioned that his outfit had information that some of the residents in the area were still mining illegally in some of the water bodies in the area despite the directive from the government to all who were engaged in such illegality to stop.
“So the District Security Committee (DISEC) met and we decided to form a task force to embark on an operation to clamp down on the activities of illegal miners in the rivers in the district,” he added.
Mr Mensah continued…“Yesterday the task force patrolled the two rivers and found the six suspects mining gold illegally and managed to arrest them.”
He indicated that the DISEC was committed to fighting galamsey in the area, adding, “We will make sure we make galamsey unpopular and uncomfortable for the operators.”
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi
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