A 25 year-old small scale miner, Baba Dentenii has been fined GH¢2,400.00 by the Tarkwa Circuit Court for mining in the Bonsawire Forest Reserve.
Dentenii, who pleaded guilty, would go to prison for 36 months in default.
Prosecuting, Police Detective Chief Inspector Oscar Amponsah, told the court, presided over by Mr Emanuel Bart-Plange Brew, that the complainants are officers of the rapid taskforce from the Forestry Commission in Tarkwa.
Detective Amponsah said on December 18, while the complainants were on duty within the Bonsawire Forest Reserve, they chanced on the accused and his accomplices now at large, mining for gold illegally in the reserve.
The prosecutor said the accused person and his accomplices on seeing the complainants took to their heels, but the complainants managed to arrest Baba and handed him over to the police.
He said after a thorough investigation Baba was charged with the offence.