Two charged for attempting to traffic 47 Ghanaians to Guinea for illegal mining

Two people who attempted to traffic 47 Ghanaians to Conakry in Guinea have been remanded to prison custody by a Circuit Court in Takoradi.

The two, Tanihu Azumah Donnick and Andrews Alimo Yorgakor, all aged 35 were arraigned on three counts of conspiracy to commit crime, human trafficking and preparing to operate small-scale mining without licence.

They pleaded not guilty to the charges. They will appear again before the court presided over by Ms Rita Doku on March 15.

Prosecuting, ASP Isaac Mensah Appenteng told the court that about a month ago the two arrived in Ghana from Conakry where they operate small-scale mining without a licence.

According to the prosecution, they successfully recruited 47 Ghanaians between the ages of 18 and 58 years to send them to Guinea for their mining work.

On March 1, 2018, at about 3:30 pm the 47 set sail in a canoe owned by the accused persons, from the Akplabanya beach in Ada in the Greater Accra Region en route to Guinea.

They had on them 28 pieces of Changfer engines, 47 pieces of water hoses, seven bundles of blankets, 32 pieces of water pumps and 32 pieces of pipe mining equipment.

The prosecution told the court that on reaching Nkotompo, a suburb of Sekondi in the Western region, the boat branched to the beach to pick more equipment.

On March 5 at about 11:00 am, the Marine Police in Takoradi picked intelligence and went to arrest them at sea.

The accused persons together with the 47 were all in court when the case was called on Wednesday, March 7.

Commander of the Ghana Marine Police ACP Seidu Iddi told Connect FM the 47 have been released because they were victims.

“We sort permission from the court to release them. Our investigations proved that they were victims. They were recruited by the two accused persons,” he said.