Police personnel on Operation Vanguard withdrawn with immediate effect

All police personnel who were assigned to Operation Vanguard to clamp down on illegal mining in the country have been withdrawn with immediate effect.

This comes after activities of Operation Vanguard were also halted according to a statement issued and signed by one Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Arhin Kwasi Annor who is the Director In Charge of Police Operations.

According to the communication sighted by MyNewsGh.com, police personnel who were deployed for the operation are to be released henceforth to their various units or stations.

The statement giving the latest directive reads in part” INGPOL has directed that all activities of Operation vanguard be halted with immediate effect until further notice. You are hereby requested to warn and release personnel from all FOBS to return to their various units/stations. You have further directed to hand over all logistics (vehicles, weapons & PPES among others) to DIGENPOL/OPS at the National Police Headquarters. Grateful to liaise with the undersigned for any assistance to withdraw personnel and logistics 3. Treat very urgent.

Operation Vanguard was a Military Police Joint Task Force (JTF) set up by the President of Ghana Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in 2017 to combat the operation of galamsey in Ghana.

Galamseyers are illegal miners and have over the years depleted Ghana’s forest cover. Their activities also pollute water bodies due to the crude and unregulated nature of the mining process.

Nana Akufo-Addo launched Operation Vanguard group on 31 July 2017 in fulfilment of his promise. The aim of the group is stopping the activities of galamseyers in the three most galamsey ravaged regions in the country. Three Forward Operating Bases were established in those regions namely Ashanti, Eastern and Western Regions.