I am putting up a hotel with 86 rooms in Axim - 22-year-old galamsey kingpin

The wanted illegal small-scale mining kingpin in Axim, Kwame Ato Asare Ani has disclosed in an interview with a local radio station that he is not an armed robber as stated in police statements, but rather a police informant who is assisting in the fight against illicit small scale mining (galamsey) in the Axim community.

Kwame Ani contends that his accomplishments and contributions to the community refute all accusations of armed robbery leveled against him.

According to him, he has built a road worth over 1.2 billion old cedis and provided among others potable water to the community.

Speaking in an interview on Peace FM’s Afternoon News on April 03, 2023, the 22-year-old galamsey kingpin stated that as part of his efforts to improve the area, he is constructing an 86-room hotel there.

Find extracts of his conversation below:

News Anchor: You said you’re building a hotel.

Kwame: Yes

News Anchor: How many rooms?

Kwame: 86 rooms. I’m not a bad person, if I was a bad person, I won’t spend over 1.2 billion to fill an entire road for the community members to use and also drill a borehole for them.

“Where I’m building my hotel, the place is like a new site, so I constructed and filled the road for about 1.2 billion old cedis, which I’m not even done paying.

“I drilled the water for them, which the community members are still using, but because of the police case, the pipe that I have laid, they came to destroy it all.

Asked of his age, he responded: “I’m now going to 22 years, I couldn’t go to school, but I have been helping the police at the galamsey site for about one year but before that, I used to do some of the galamsey, and even buy machines for them to use for the job."

Kwame Ani claimed that because of his relationship with the police in halting galamsey in the area, he is the first person the police turns to any time they need entry to the various forests where galamsey operations are taking place.

He added, “What I want to tell the IGP is that if I will turn myself in to the police, all the allegations that the police have made against me that I’m an armed robber and having all the guns that they seized; if they are able to tell me the truth, I will come to Accra and turn myself in.”

GhanaWeb on Sunday, April 2, 2023, reported about a viral video in which a supposed leader of the gang is seen accosting a police officer and accusing the officer of attempting to arrest him after he had given him money.

Subsequently, the Ghana Police Service later on Sunday released a statement which said it arrested some four men on March 28 after the Axim Divisional Police Patrol Team reported an attack on them by a gang.

According to the police, it also conducted a search at the residence of Kwame Asare where some weapons and other items were retrieved.

The statement added that the police became aware of the video showing the confrontation between some police officers and the arrested gang in which the police were pleading with the gang members over an extortion allegation.

According to the statement, the allegation of extortion has since been referred to the Police Professional Standards Bureau (PPSB) for investigation.

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AM/SARA