The Ghana Gold Board and National Security have busted 10 Chinese at Asankragua in the Western Region for gold smuggling.
Chief Executive Officer of the Gold Board Sammy Gyamfi disclosed this when he addressed the media in Accra on Tuesday, July 2.
It’s been barely 48 hours since the Ghana Gold Board announced full implementation of the Gold Board Act and cautioned that foreign nationals can no longer engage in gold buying. But 10 Chinese nationals have been caught alleged to have been engaging in the trade.
‘’We got intelligence that 10 Chinese were hiding in a private residence at Asankragua in the Western region,” Mr Gyamfi said.
Items retrieved from the Chinese included 10 pump action guns, cartridges, a cash of 1.3 million cedis, casino cards, saves, gold bars, gold nuggets and gold receipts.
‘’It’s a scheme of money laundering,” he said.
Sammy Gyamfi said his outfit will pursue the matter to its logical conclusion indicating the suspects would not be deported but will face conviction on Thursday, July 3.
‘’We want to get to the bottom of this, we want to know who is behind it, who is sponsoring them, how much has been taken out…we will secure conviction,’’ he assured.
He said since the Gold Board started operations, it has successfully arrested over 17 people with all the cases under investigations.
Sammy Gyamfi revealed that the total weight of gold seized is in excess of 12kg worth 23 million cedis, noting over 35 million cedis worth of gold and cash are in their possession.
