In an effort to complement the government’s clampdown on illegal miners, the task force of the Ghana National Association of Small Scale Miners (GNASSM) has apprehended 13 persons for illegally mining in the Eastern Region.
The suspects include Ghanaians and other West African nationals.
They were caught mining on the Birim River at Akyem-Mampongnear Anyinam, Accra Village Nkatieso, and Mokyere.
The task force also destroyed and retrieved over a hundred chanfang machines, water pumping machines, and other mining equipment.
Sampson Kofi Wiredu, Vice President of the Association said the operation is to augment effort by the government to clamp down on illegal miners whose activities continue to create a mess in the mining industry.
This arrest follows a similar exercise conducted by the Lands and Natural Resources ministry a few days ago at Birim North and Asante Akyem South districts of the Eastern and Ashanti regions respectively.
The special ministerial operation led by Deputy Minister, George Mireku Duker saw the arrest of six illegal miners and the destruction of several mining equipment.
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