Four foreign nationals including one Chinese and three Togolese have been arrested by Operation Vanguard Joint Task Force at Broniamah, a community in the Amenfi Central District of the Western Region.
The four who were arrested on Tuesday, May 15, 2018, were apprehended for allegedly indulging in illegal mining also ‘Galamsey’.
The suspects were identified as Lin Chanquo, 44, a Chinese; Kwame Musah, 28; Kombete Kudjo, 48 and Ano Nabro, 21, all Togolese.
The four foreigners were arrested together with two locals. They are Osumanu Yakubu, 27 from Tamale and Inusah Issah, 25 from Garu Tempani, all in the Northern region.
The Operation Vanguard Team chanced upon one immobilized Hyundai excavator with chassis number K3R000033 on the site.
The team also seized one Liungong excavator with chassis number CLG0956DC052066 and conveyed it to the Wassa Amenfi District Assembly.
Other items seized by the team included one locally manufactured single barrel gun, one Toyota hilux pickup truck with registration number GT 8131-13, one water pumping machine, and eleven mobile phones.
Squadron Leader Robison Omane Agyei, Public Relations Officer of Operation Vanguard disclosed this to the media in an interview.
He added that the suspects and the seized items were handed over to the Manso Amenfi central police station for further investigations and possible prosecution.
He mentioned that earlier, the Western Region Forward Operating Base (FOB) of the task force arrested 12 Ghanaians in the Furi Forest at Kutukrom in the Prestea Huni Valley District of the region.
“The FOB immobilised 12 excavators, seized other mining equipment and handed them over to the Prestea District Police Station for further investigation”, he revealed.
He continued “With this arrest the total number of arrest is now 1,205 , with 5,134 changfas immobilized while 74 vehicles and 78 motorbikes have been seized.
He indicated that 107 arms and 2344 ammunition and 228 excavators had so far been seized with 312 of them immobilised. He also noted that 432 water pumping machines had been seized with 977 of the machines immobilised.
He pointed out that Operation Vanguard (OV) would continue to perform its task in spite of the propaganda to try to tarnish the image of the Task Force.
“We have always been asking for evidence when allegations are made against the taskforce to be able to deal with the bad nuts amongst us. All that we seem to hear are allegations without evidence”
“The Task Force is sending a stern warning to illegal miners to desist from the act because we are come after them wherever they are hiding”, he stressed.
“We believe some miscreants are out there using the name of operation Vanguard to extort monies from illegal miners. The illegal miners are not able to complain because, they are doing an illegal act”.
“We must all ensure that we support government to sanitize the mining sector for the benefit all”, he added.
He also called for the support of all Ghanaians and urged them not to relent on the information they sent to Operation Vanguard adding “Let us all help save Ghana now for a better future”.
Source:Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/Emmanuel Opoku
