Two Ghanaian journalists, Okatakyie Afrifa-Mensah and Kwame Appiah Kubi, along with other team members, arrested three Chinese nationals who were allegedly mining illegally in the Tano Nimire Forest Reserve in the Samreboi district of the Western North Region.
In an exclusive interview with GhanaWeb journalist Amos Manteaw, popularly known as IGP on August 30, 2024, Okatakyie Afrifa-Mensah revealed that they were in Takoradi for unrelated activities.
However, upon learning of the ongoing galamsey [illegal mining] activities in the forest reserves, they decided to take action and arrest the culprits.
“So, when I got there, the level of destruction they had caused made me decide to rely on citizens' arrest. I arrested them and handed them over to the police.
“Thankfully, we had some security protection equipment, including snakes, so we had to use minimum force to arrest them.
"There was resistance, but if you saw the anger in my eyes, you’d know we wouldn’t tolerate it. Initially, they were trying to test the waters to see if I would back down, but of course, you know me—I won’t. When I set my mind on something, I will see it through.
“They tried to sabotage the process by locking the main gate that leads to the bush, so we couldn’t get access to the place. The place is close to the Samartex people, who had a barricade preventing cars from entering their premises,” he said.
According to him, they carried out the operation based on Section 12 of the Criminal and Other Offences Act, which allows citizens to arrest people misbehaving in society.
The arrested individuals, identified as Li Zhengang (51 years), Li Derui (35 years), and Li Baosheng (55 years), were apprehended without the assistance of local security forces.
“And even the question people are asking now is, 'Samartex, which is a company that deals with timber and has a football club, made noise about certain Akonta mining. How come now people have free access to your forest and mine without raising an alarm?'
“So, the Samartex barricade was there; we entered it freely. But by the time we were coming back, they had locked it with chains because they had information that we had arrested people.
“And we are militants; we have to move. If we decide to do something, nothing gets in our way. If you get in our way, you will be hit with something devastating. So, when we got there, I took out a pump-action gun and had to open the gate with a combustion.
“When we entered, there were security guys at the post, but upon reaching the gate after we had arrested them, they had all vanished,” he asserted.
While the Ghanaian workers were spared, the three Chinese nationals were handed over to the Asankragua Police Division Command for further investigation.
Following their arrest, the three men were taken to court, where they were remanded in custody pending further investigation and legal proceedings.
“We told the police these people were doing illegal activities that we considered to be illegal mining. Upon inquiries, with their documentation, they could not provide any or show that they had been permitted to enter, so we handed them over to the police to investigate and prosecute them.”
The illegal mining site, located near the Samartex Timber & Plywood Company Limited, had been operating with the involvement of both Chinese nationals and local laborers from the community.
The site was within the Tano Nimire Forest Reserve in the Samreboi district of the Western North Region.
Reaching out to Superintendent Ntori Asankragua Division Police Command, he declined to provide any further details and restricted the news team to headquarters. However, the team is yet to reach out to the headquarters for further information.
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