Court remands 11 for alleged possession of explosives

The Tarkwa District Court A has remanded 11 suspects into prison custody for alleged possession of explosives.

They would be charged for conspiracy, possession of explosives without lawful excuse, and undertaking small-scale mining without license.

Their pleas were not taken.

The judge, Charles Owusu Ansah, adjourned the case to Thursday, May 4, 2023, as it's under investigation.

The suspects; Xia Shui Hong, Chen Kai Jun, Miao Hai Jiang, Chen Ju Rong, Zhon Yi Fang, Li Hai Long, Chen Wen Yong, Xu Ying Jie, Feng Shu Fang, Samuel Okafor, and Senu Kossi are casual workers, engineers, machine operator, mechanic, rail truck installer, mason and teacher.

On April 15, 2023, a military task force from Takoradi Army Command was on their normal patrol duties when they spotted and arrested the suspects at a mining site located within Efuanta in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality.

The arrest of suspects at the site which was been operated by Mohammed Brothers Company Limited, unraveled the quality of the solid substance suspected to be ammonium nitrate and explosives.

During the investigation, the Minerals Commission revealed that the suspects did not have a permit to possess any explosive or ammonium nitrate for their mining operations as the law required.

Also, it was established that the company had no mining license to undertake the current mining activities.

The suspects were thereafter sent to the Ministry of National Security in Accra for further investigations.