Twenty illegal miners in the Nzema East municipality of the Western Region have been arrested by the Nzema East Municipal Security Council Taskforce.
The illegal miners were arrested on Saturday, following a joint operation between the Axim Divisional Command of the Ghana Police Service, National Investigation Bureau (NIB), and the Blue Water Guard team, and solely sponsored by the Nzema East Municipal Assembly.
The operations, which was led by the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Herbert Kuah Dickson, targeted areas such as Akango, Abelebo, and Duale, which were along the River Ankobra.
The joint operations team, during the operation, seized six control boards of excavators and 35 chamfan machines and dredge boats.
They also destroyed other items belonging to the miners.
Mr Dickson, after the operation, warned individuals and groups who were involved in the act of engaging in illegality in the area with respect to the destruction of the forest and water bodies to desist from in such acts, since the assembly is ready to clamp down on them at an unannounced period.
He also cautioned chiefs and opinion leaders of the communities who had given out their lands for such acts, especially in the deep forest zones and along river bodies to desist from such acts.
BY TIMES REPORTER
