Court remands 4 illegal miners

A Cape Coast Circuit Court has remanded four persons into Police custody for engaging in illegal mining, popularly known as ‘galamsey,’ on the Offin river at Akwaboso, a suburb of Dunkwa-on-Offin.

Gabriel Akoni, 20, Edmond Adjo, 24, Wisdom Agyaho, 26 and Ntephe Mukondjoo, 20 pleas were not taken and would reappear before the court on Tuesday, July 11.

They were charged on two counts of conspiracy to commit crime to wit mining and conducting mining without license.

Prosecuting, Police Chief Inspector Charles Anku told the Court presided over by Mr Kofi Seshi Ametewee that the complainants were members of an Anti-Galamsey Taskforce deployed from the Ashanti region to help clamp down on illegal mining.

He said on Wednesday June 21, 2017, the Taskforce and a member of the Police Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) team were on its usual rounds at Akwaboso, a suburb of Dunkwa-on-Offin.

Chief Inspector Anku said members of the taskforce chanced on the accused persons mining minerals on the Offin river without license and arrested them.

The prosecution said they were handed to the police in Dunkwa-on-Offin and subsequently referred to the Regional Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

He said the Police were still conducting investigations into the matter, and prayed the court to remand the accused to afford the police ample time to conclude its investigations.