More than 300 people have been remanded into prison custody for two weeks following an alleged attack on members of the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS), officials of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), and journalists.
The individuals—residents of Dadwene and Anwona in the Ashanti Region, as well as Hwidiem, Kenyase, Goaso, and Marhani in the Ahafo Region—were arrested in a joint military-police swoop.
At dawn on Wednesday, 12th November 2025, the armed forces and police carried out simultaneous raids in the Ashanti and Ahafo regions, as well as an additional operation at Ehi in the Volta Region.
Videos circulating on social media show the arrested persons, mostly men, lined up on the streets and subjected to physical exercises, many of them visibly distressed and unaware of the charges against them.
Residents claim the security team mistakenly stormed the wrong Dadwene community. They say the operation targeted Dadwene on the Kumasi–Obuasi stretch instead of the Dadwene community along the Obuasi–Dunkwa road, where some illegal miners had allegedly attacked an EPA team.
The suspects from both regions were later transported to Kumasi and arraigned before the court, where they were all remanded into prison custody for two weeks.
At the Kumasi Central Prisons, emotional scenes unfolded as families and relatives queued outside, hoping to visit their loved ones and secure bail.
They are expected to reappear in court on Thursday, 27th November 2025.
Some eyewitnesses allege that despite presenting evidence of innocence, security officers ignored their pleas.
“My husband even showed them his ID card that he works as an electrician for AGA, but the police didn’t heed and sent him away. They ransacked our room. They didn’t explain to us what wrong my husband had done,” said Kukuaa Amissah, a wife of one of the arrested residents.
Residents and some Members of Parliament, including Tano North MP Gideon Boako, have condemned the mass arrests, insisting that many innocent people were swept up in the operation.
They are calling for the immediate release of those wrongly detained and urging the military to conduct a more targeted and precise operation.
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