A Chinese national Huang Lei, alleged to be the son of En Huang aka Aisha Huang, an alleged Chinese illegal miner was yesterday remanded into prison custody by an Accra High Court.
He was remanded alongside his accomplice Huang Hiahua, also a Chinese national by the court presided over by Justice Lydia OseiMarfo.
Huang Lei has been charged with remaining in Ghana after the expiration of his permit and the possession of ammunition while Huang Hiahua faces the charge of possession of forged documents.
Both pleaded not guilty to the respective charges.
Justice Lydia Osei Marfo remanded them into the Nsawam medium security prison to appear on December 13,2022 for the next hearing.
She deemed them foreign nationals with no sufficient social or financial ties within the country making them a flight risk and remanded them accordingly.
Counsel for the two accused, Franklin Kumakoh informed the court about his intention to apply for bail on behalf of accused at the next hearing.
He wondered why prosecution had introduced mining allegations against accused in the fact sheet when they had withdrawn same charges in a previous case at the circuit court against accused.
Aisha Huang, alleged mother of Huang Lei, has been described nationally as an alleged illegal mining queen.
She is facing trial at the Accra High Court presided over by Justice Lydia OseiMarfo for mining related offences.
The facts presented by Assistant State Attorney (ASA) Watkins Adamah were that sometime in August 2022, the Ghana Security Secretariat, Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) and other security agencies received intelligence that the first and second accused persons, Huang Lei and Huang Hiahua, together with other foreign nationals had remained in the country without permits and were suspected to be engaged in illegal mining activities.
He added that on September 2, 2022, a team of security officers visited the residence of the accused persons at Ahodwo in Kumasi, Ashanti Region, where they were arrested.
MrAdamah said that, at the same residence one Jian Li Hau, alleged to be the girlfriend of Huang Lei and Aisha Huang, believed to be the mother of Huang Lei, were both arrested.
“The arresting team retrieved from the first accused, Huang Lei, his Chinese passport with number E44932112. Affixed in his passport is a permit issued by the Director of Immigration with number EP-0082092 which authorised him to remain in Ghana until January 5, 2022.”
“The first accused person upon arrest and interrogation admitted he did not have a valid permit to remain in Ghana,” he said.
Prosecution added that a search conducted in the room of the first accused retrieved eight packs of Eley shot gun cartridges containing 250 pieces of ammunition which he was unable to provide a valid licence for.
The second accused, Hiahua, according to MrAdamah, had in his possession a Chinese passport bearing his name with passport number EC4624083.
“Affixed to the passport was what appeared to be a Republic of Ghana residence permit with number RP-0386869, purportedly issued by the Director of Immigration for a one-year period with effect from 26th May,2022.”
“However, investigations disclosed that the supposed permit was not issued by or with the consent or authority of the GIS,” he added.
BY NANA BENTSI ODURO
