Anti-illegal mining task force invades two mining camps, seizes valuable equipment, set ablaze Changfang machines in Wassa East

The Wassa East District taskforce on illegal mining, led by the Chief Executive Hon. Emmanuel Boakye has invaded two mining sites at Bonsie and Amponsaso in the Domama Electoral Area of the Western Region.

The raid led to the seizure of three excavator monitor boards and gears, one control board, seven batteries, pumping machines and six washing blankets.

Apart from the confiscated items, two Changfang machines and some unidentified items were set ablaze to prevent its future usage. No arrest was made as the perpetrators abandoned the site before the taskforce arrived.

Activities at the illegal mining sites were unimaginable, the forest and river bodies have seriously been degraded and depleted with several dugouts which pose as death trap for any living being that move around the site.

Again, the livelihood of farmers within the area has been destroyed as many farmlands and cash crops are levelled to the ground. School enrolment has also seen a drastic reduction in numbers and led to a surge in social vices within the catchment communities.

In an interview with the Information Services Department, Hon. Emmanuel Boakye said operations of the taskforce have always been met with challenges that make it difficult to arrest the illegal miners, explaining, that "the miners have informants in the security services as well as people within each and every community that leads to their operational site," stressing that they always leave or abandon the site before the taskforce arrives.

The DCE admonished the people to support government's effort in bringing to an end the activities of these nation wreckers in order to save the country from the menace.

“If this does not stop today, a time is coming that unexplained illness will befall mankind, scarcity of food as well as drinkable water,” he emphasized.

The Chief Executive was accompanied by the District Police Commander ASP Anthony Duodu and about twenty armed officers, four officials from the minerals commission, an officer from the Information Service department and some administrative officers from the Assembly.