The Tanoso Police Command in the Ahafo Region says it has not received any formal report or evidence linking the Ankobeahene of the Tanoso Traditional Council, Nana Okofo Dartey Amoako Atta, to illegal mining activities.
The clarification follows the arrest of two individuals over their alleged involvement in or cooperation with illegal mining activities in the Tanoso area.
The suspects have been identified as Nana Amoako Atta, popularly known as Aseda Ben, the Ankobeahene of the Tanoso Traditional Council, and Alhassan Adamu, identified as the Afrisipa Krom Youth Chairman.
Speaking on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem programme, the Tanoso Police Commander, ASP Edmond Adjei Kissi, said the police had not received any report confirming allegations that the traditional leader was involved in galamsey.
“I can’t tell whether the Ankobeahene of the Tanoso Traditional Council, Nana Okofo Dartey Amoako Atta, does galamsey or not. We have not received any report that he is involved,” he said.
According to ASP Kissi, the police only heard allegations about the traditional leader’s alleged involvement after an incident at an illegal mining site last Sunday.
“It was just last Sunday that the incident happened, and we also heard people saying that he is into galamsey, but we have no idea,” he explained.
He said the police had conducted an operation at the site and seized some equipment, which was taken to the police station.
However, while the officers were leaving the area, they received information that some equipment had allegedly been loaded and taken to the palace instead of being sent to the police station.
“When we were leaving, we heard that some equipment had been loaded and brought to the palace and not to the police station,” ASP Kissi said.
He said the police subsequently returned to the site but found no one there.
The commander explained that the officers later encountered a situation that made an immediate arrest risky, based on previous experiences with resistance from suspected illegal miners.
He recalled an earlier operation in which police officers were confronted by a group of illegal miners who allegedly seized four AK-47 rifles from them.
“We went to a town to conduct an operation. We encountered some gangs and they took our four AK-47s, so our commander sent us back for the guns,” he said.
ASP Kissi said the police therefore considered the situation carefully before deciding how to proceed with the Tanoso operation.
“When we see the situation and how the issue is, and we decide to make arrests based on intelligence, they will worry us. So we diverted back to the station,” he explained.
He said the police later decided to process the suspects for court rather than risk a confrontation at the site.
“We decided to take them to process them for court. Nananom even came to ask us when, but we never heard from them again,” he said.
ASP Kissi stressed that the police had not ignored the allegations or failed to act against suspected illegal mining activities in the area.
“So it’s not like we don’t do anything about it,” he said.
The arrests are reportedly linked to alleged illegal mining activities around Adengo/Ponwaakrom and areas associated with companies accused of contributing to the destruction of farmlands, forests and water bodies.
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