The National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) has dismantled an organised multinational galamsey syndicate operating within the communities of Ntabanu and Nyameadom in Mankraso, in the Ahafo Ano South West District of the Ashanti Region.
The operation led to the arrest of three Chinese nationals and four Ghanaian operators, as well as the seizure of four motor vehicles, one excavator, and a tricycle in a decisive sweep conducted on Saturday, May 2.
The operation commenced as a routine patrol within the Mankraso operational corridor when taskforce operatives intercepted a brown Zonda pickup vehicle being driven at high speed away from a galamsey site at Ntabanu.
The driver, subsequently established to be a Chinese national engaged in illegal mining, was attempting to leave the area in apparent reaction to news of the taskforce’s presence, which had spread rapidly among operators in the locality.
Several other miners in the vicinity were observed halting their activities and relocating their excavators into concealed positions in anticipation of enforcement action.
The swift and aggressive advance of the task force, however, blocked the retreat of the fleeing Chinese national and resulted in his immediate arrest.
In a directly consequent engagement at the adjoining community of Nyameadom, the task force intercepted a second syndicate comprising two Chinese nationals and four Ghanaian operators who were equally attempting to escape the area in response to the task force’s presence.
The illegal miners were hastening to escape due to the extensive devastation they had caused to large stretches of farmland and, especially, the pollution of the River Mankran, once a major source of water for inhabitants of the Mankraso general area.
The syndicate was moving in a convoy of three vehicles, namely a Nissan Navara, a Nissan Oting, and a Toyota Hilux.
The operators had abandoned their excavator at the active mining site in their haste to escape. The task force successfully blocked the convoy’s escape route and effected the arrest of all six occupants without confrontation or casualty.
The first arrest, effected at Ntabanu, was that of Su Zhoxiang, a Chinese national aged 43 years. The remaining six arrests were made at Nyameadom and comprised two further Chinese nationals, namely Wei Renguang, aged 54 years, and Tan Shishian, aged 50 years, together with four Ghanaian operators, namely Kumi Richard, aged 34 years, Justice Nkrumah, aged 37 years, Emmanuel Nyeri, aged 25 years, and Francis Mintah, aged 23 years.
A comprehensive search of the operational area produced substantial recoveries. All four motor vehicles used by the syndicate were seized, namely the brown Zonda pickup, with an amount of GH₵2,750 retrieved at Ntabanu, and the Nissan Navara, Nissan Oting, and Toyota Hilux recovered at Nyameadom. One excavator abandoned at the active mining site at Nyameadom was also seized, alongside an aboboyaa tricycle recovered from the same site.
There were also assorted and expired non-citizen identification cards found on the suspected Chinese illegal miners.
The four Ghanaian suspects have since been handed over to the Mankraso District Police Station for investigation and possible prosecution. The three Chinese nationals were transported to the NAIMOS Headquarters for further investigation and onward handover to the Ghana Immigration Service for the required immigration-related action.
The seized excavator has been conveyed to the NAIMOS logistics holding area in Kumasi for safekeeping.
The Ntabanu and Nyameadom operation reaffirms the persistent involvement of foreign nationals in the financing, equipping, and direct execution of galamsey activities within the Ashanti Region, notwithstanding the prevailing legal prohibition on foreign participation in small-scale mining in Ghana.
The seizure of three pickup vehicles, a tricycle, and an excavator from a single syndicate further illustrates the layered logistical apparatus that sustains organised illegal mining within the Mankraso corridor.
The Secretariat wishes to assure the public that no operator, whether foreign or domestic, will be permitted to plunder the mineral wealth of the nation under any guise, and that task force operatives will continue to pursue every active enclave within the Ahafo Ano South West District and beyond until the unlawful trade is decisively stopped.
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