A total of 41 people have been arraigned at the High Court in Accra on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, for alleged involvement in galamsey activities at the Tano and Subri rivers near Samraboi in the Western Region.
The 41, divided into two sets of 29 and 12, have been remanded to reappear on April 30 and May 2, 2025, respectively.
The accused persons, who are on provisional charges of undertaking a mining operation without a license, possession of firearms and ammunition without lawful authority, and pollution of water contrary to Section 24 of the Water Resources Commission Act, 1996 (Act 522), had their respective pleas reserved.
Justice Kizito Naa Koowa Quarshie, the presiding judge, has since adjourned the cases to April 30 and May 2, respectively.
In respect of the first set of 29, which includes 8 Chinese nationals, the court has directed the defense lawyers to file their bail applications by April 24.
The prosecution is to file their affidavit in opposition, if any, by April 28, and the parties have been asked to return on April 30.
For the second set of 12 accused persons, which includes four women, the court directed the parties to file their bail and opposition within the same timeframe, except that the case was adjourned to May 2.
Accused persons
In the first set of 29, the accused persons include Michael Gyedu Ayisi, Alhassan Phammed, Solomon Obour, Kwesi Nkansah, Abubakari Imrana, Kwame Ofori, James Hoku, John Osci, Kwasi Asare, Francis Asaah, Ernest Kankam, Derrick Amoako, Derrick Shun, Henry Osci, Kingsley Larbi, Ibrahim Mohammed, Aikins Adomah, Asante Joseph, Michael Mintah, Ernest Obeng, and Justice Owusu.
Chinese accused
The Chinese component of the accused persons, according to the prosecution, who were responsible for operating and repairing the excavators being used by the miners at the site, were arrested and include Wei Shi Liu, Huang Hai En, Zhang Yu Yi, Cheng Shao Mi, Li Dao Xi, Wei Zhu Xian, Wei Shi Yu, and Huang Wei Dong.
Brief facts
It was the case of the prosecution in the first set of 29 that the complainants are police personnel drawn from the National Police Headquarters, Accra, and tasked by the Inspector General of Police to combat illegal mining activities on water bodies in the Western Region.
It was the case of the prosecution that on April 17, 2024, while embarking on special operations on the Tano and Subiri rivers near Samreboi in the Western Region, the police team chanced upon the accused persons busily operating excavators, Changfang machines, and other mining equipment, as well as washing dug-out sand into the Tano River in the Western Region.
The brief facts stated that the team arrested the accused persons.
In the course of the arrest, the accused person Michael Gyedu Ayisi was found in possession of three pump-action guns together with 310 live BB ammunition, as well as a black bag containing the sum of one hundred and fifty-seven thousand Ghana Cedis (GHC 157,000.00) and five small transparent sachets containing yellow substances suspected to be gold nuggets.
It is the further case of the prosecution that all the exhibits have been retrieved, sealed, and retained.
The prosecution stated that later, accused James Opoku was also arrested with one pump-action gun in his possession.
In addition to the aforementioned exhibits, the prosecution said the police again retrieved one single-barrel gun, one pump-action gun, four machetes, and two truncheons, which were left at the mining site by some other illegal miners who managed to escape upon sensing police presence.
Investigation revealed that the accused persons Wei Shi Liu, Huang Hai En, Zhang Yu Yi, Cheng Shao Mi, Li Dao Xi, Wei Zhu Xian, Wei Shi Yu, and Huang Wei Dong were responsible for operating and repairing the excavators being used by the miners at the site.
Based on the above, the accused persons were arraigned before the court for prosecution. The case is still under investigation.
