An illegal miner has been shot dead by the anti-galamsey taskforce at Wawase in the Ashanti region after an exchange with the taskforce.
According to the Public Relations Officer of the taskforce, Major Gariba Pabi, the deceased, together with some illegal miners pelted stones and fired at the taskforce known as Operations Vanguard over their removal from the site.
“We are in the Ashanti region to carry out His Excellency President Akufo-Addo’s initiative against galamsey. Today, our personnel from Ashanti region on patrols around Wawase area chanced upon galamseyers who threw stones at them and fired gunshots.
“So the taskforce fired warning shots to scare them away. After everything, we cordon the area for a search. After the search, one person with a gunshot wound was found. He was given first aid and rushed to AGA Hospital and he was pronounced dead at the hospital.”
Major Pabi advised illegal miners to “leave the galamsey sites, carry your equipment and leave the sites. We are here to ensure that galamsey is stopped. Don’t try to resist us, don’t try to fire at us, don’t throw stones at us because we are carrying arms, we’ll not keep quiet, we’ll not leave ourselves for you to injure us and it will not be good for you, it will not be good for our operations”.
A four hundred joint military/police anti-galamsey taskforce were last month deployed to three regions in the country to enforce the ban on illegal small-scale mining.
The troops were sub-divided into three and deployed to Ashanti, Eastern and Western regions.
