‘Galamseyers’ invade forest in Tarkwa Nsuaem

The Forestry Commission has expressed serious concern about the invasion of forests by illegal miners after they were driven away from river bodies in various parts of the Western Region.

According to the police, for some time now the regional office of the commission had been experiencing series of illegal mining activities in the Neung Forest Reserve at Nsuaem in the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipality.
 
The Regional Police Public Relations officer of the Western Region, Olivia Ewurabena Adiku said the officials, therefore, decided to monitor and patrol the reserve in order to clamp down on the activities but yielded very little result.
 
She said the guards managed to arrest some while the rest escaped.
 
According to her only on Wednesday, officials from the Regional Forestry Commission who were on their usual patrols in and around the reserve encountered increasing numbers of the miners engaged in their illegal activities.
 
She said the operators had mounted a “Changfan” machine in the forest reserve where they were prospecting for gold.
 
The operators, she said, took to their heels upon seeing the forest guards but they were pursued and three of the operators - Wisdom Fosu, 24; Michael Dunyo, 25; and Kojo Goka, 29, were arrested.
 
When they were searched, a small bottle containing some liquid substance suspected to be mercury was found in Kojo Goka's pocket. 
 
They pleaded for forgiveness but were later handed to the police.