A small scale miner at Anyinam in the Atiwa District of the Eastern Region is alleging that the four men whose bodies were retrieved from a mining pit at Kwabeng had an encounter with some military men before their deaths.
Isaac Annor who claimed he did not witness the incident, said on Adom FM’s Morning Show, ‘Dwaso Nsem’ Wednesday that he received a distress call from one of the deceased men informing him that some unidentified military personnel were trailing the team who had dispatched to convey excavators to safety.
Mr. Annor explained that the men were conveying an excavator on a pay loader from Anyinam to Extra Gold Mining concession at Akukuaso when in the course of their journey, they abandoned the pay loader for reasons yet to be ascertained.
He continued that their bodies were later found by Police after a long search in a pit filled with water by the roadside, which is about five metres away from the point where they abandoned the pay loader.
He alleged that the four fled and abandoned their equipment upon seeing some men believed to be members of the anti-galamsey taskforce, Operation Vanguard.
“The men are actually my boys who were conveying an excavator I asked them to bring to town. I didn’t witness the incident but I received a call from one of the men that on their way home, they were chased by some military men.
“They called back again to tell me that their lives were in danger and so I decided to help them by driving to where they were supposed to convey the machine. I later called two men to join me and even reported to the police where we began to search for them,” he said.
Mr Annor further noted that after a long search with the police, they found the bodies of the deceased in a very shallow river and detected bruises on their bodies indicating they have been beaten to death.
He could not state whether the military men were Military personnel operating in the area under Operation Vanguard taskforce.
“We only saw the machine parked somewhere but did not find the men only to find them dead in a pit with blood oozing from their noses and I saw it to be very strange because they couldn’t have drown in that pit,” he cried.
Meanwhile, the Eastern Regional Police Command has commenced investigations into the death of the four people.
Listen to Isaac Annor
