At least eight illegal miners have been arrested for invading the Potroase section of the Atewa Forest Reserve.
The arrests were made through the collaborative efforts of guards from the Forestry Commission at Kyebi and a volunteer youth group from Potroase in the Eastern Region.
This comes just days after the Rapid Response Unit of the Forestry Commission set four excavators ablaze, which belonged to a small-scale miner.
The Eastern Regional Director of the Forestry Commission, Isaac Noble Eshun, who visited the site where the eight miners were arrested, disclosed that the operation took place while the suspects were actively mining.
“On Sunday, we didn’t get the assistance of the police. however, a youth group in Potroase assisted the officer in charge and his men and they were able to apprehend eight people who had encroached or entered into the forest reserve and had started mining,” he explained.
He revealed how some heavily built men allegedly hired by the miners prevented the officers from embarking on an arrest on Saturday.
“We got information that a group of people had made their way into the Potroase part of the Atewa forest reserve. It was in the evening so our officers who were in charge of the area approached the area, however, it was dark and we couldn’t do anything, they were two ladies and a gentleman besides they met heavily built people who prevented them from going in there,” he said.
He warned the commission will not stop dealing ruthlessly with persons who mine in forest reserves.
“As the commission, we’re poised with our partners and stakeholders to clamp down on them. For the past two or so years, the commission has been clamping down on illegal mining in forest reserves as directed by the president and the sector minister, the menace has been looming in the forest reserves, especially in the Ashanti and Western and lately the Eastern Region,” he stated.
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