Four Nigerians arrested in Atewa forest for illegal mining

Four Nigeriens have been arrested by the Forestry Services of the Forestry Commission in the Eastern Region for attempting to illegally mine gold in the Atewa Forest Reserve.

The suspects are Ibrahim Dramani, 33, Osman Mumuni, 25, Adams Ali, 20 and Amidu Abubakar 33.

Speaking to Starr News, the Begoro District Manager of Forestry Commission, Kwame Oteng Awuah, explained that the foreign illegal miners sneaked into the forest reserve to dig gold but were arrested early Thursday Morning upon a tip off by the Rapid Responds Team of the Forestry commission.

“We had information that some illegal miners have sneaked into Kibi portion of the Atewa Forest reserve mining and upon receipt of this information we organized the range…that is the range manager and rapid responds team at kibi went over to the place at night to lay ambush,” he told Starr news’s Eastern Regional Correspondent Kojo Ansah.

According to Oteng-Awuah, they heard people talking in the forest at dawn and were placed under close monitoring and “after few hours later they saw the miners using their gold detection machines to search for gold by taking off the top soil but we managed to arrest four.”

The suspects have been brought to the Eastern Regional Police Headquarters for their caution statements to be taken and put before the Koforidua Circuit Court “B”.

In August 30, 2017, the Koforidua Circuit Court ‘B’ presided over by Her Honour Mercy Adei Kotei convicted the 29 foreign illegal miners 25 of whom were Nigeriens to a total fine of GH¢15, 690,000 and in default they would serve a total of 139 years in jail.