Locals Still Harboring Galamseyers – 50 Suspects Arrested in the Eastern and Western Regions

Today the 18th of July 2019 www.citinewsroom.com reported that 7 galamseyers trapped as mining pit caves in near Obuasi, however, the Ashanti Regional Police PRO says it was 2 people trapped one dead and one injured. So the scourge of galamsey is still with us. Are we winning this war, how many of the battles are we losing and how many are we winning. What is the state of the implementation of the Road Map by the interministerial committee, where are we with the MMIP, how much have we done with the prosecution of those arrested by Operation Vanguard, what has happened to the Parliament promise to support the Media Coalition Against Galamsey. Why has the media including the Coalition lost their vim? There are still a lot of questions than answers. But reading from what Operation Vanguard reports the galamsey scourge is still with us.

Op VANGUARD personnel have apprehended some 50 suspected illegal miners in the Western and Eastern Regions in various operations conducted over the past week.

On Saturday 13 July 2019, Op VANGUARD personnel in the Western Region apprehended 16 suspected Chinese illegal miners in the general area of Enchi Kwahu in the Aowin District together with 5 excavators they have been using in their operations.

The 34 other suspected illegal miners were arrested in the East Akim Municipality in the Eastern Region on Friday. The suspects, who were made up of both locals and foreigners were apprehended in the general area of Asiakwa.

Nine (9) of the suspects who were locals were handed over to civil police at Kibi for prosecution while the others – 16 Chinese, 22 Guinean and 3 Burkinabe nationals and the 5 excavators have been handed over to IMCIM for further action.

Though the Taskforce have been receiving assistance through tipoffs from some locals, others have also resorted to providing safe havens for illegal miners. These illegal miners have rented accommodations within various areas where galamsey is rampant and are wreaking havoc on our water bodies and forests. Op VANGUARD is, therefore, calling on the traditional leadership and locals to help flash out these unlicensed operators and their collaborators.

Other Operations

In other operations conducted from VANGUARD’s Forward Operating Base (FOB) in the Central Region, a total of 94 Changfan branded water pumping machines were destroyed.

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