Five persons have been arrested for engaging in illegal mining activities at Abonidua and Bedi in the Sefwi-Wiawso Municipality of the Western North Region.
The suspects, mostly young men, were apprehended during a joint operation led by the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr. Dominic Gyasi, in collaboration with a task force known as the Blue Water Guards.
According to the MCE, the operation forms part of efforts by the Assembly and its partners to clamp down on galamsey activities that continue to destroy water bodies, farmlands, and the environment in the municipality.
During the raid, the task force seized chanfangs, pumping machines, and destroyed makeshift water holes used for illegal operations.
Speaking after the exercise, Mr. Gyasi cautioned young people in the area to desist from illegal mining and instead take advantage of alternative livelihood opportunities being rolled out by the Assembly.
“The Assembly is ready to support our young people with alternative jobs, but we will not sit back and watch them destroy the environment in the name of unemployment. Anyone who flouts the directive and is caught engaging in galamsey will face the full rigours of the law,” he warned.
He further stressed that the clampdown will be sustained until the menace of illegal mining is fully addressed in the Sefwi-Wiawso Municipality.
