The Assembly member of Kyebi Ahenkrom Electoral Area in the Eastern Region has alleged that some elements seeking the downfall of the Akufo-Addo government are behind the recent killings of some illegal miners in the country.
Persons he described as saboteurs, he said have taken advantage of the operations being embarked upon by the Operations Vanguard team and are killing innocent miners just to make the NPP government unpopular.
“I don’t believe the taskforce will go to that extent of killing people indiscriminately. I think some wicked people in the various regions have taken advantage of the situation and killing people all in the name of illegal mining,” he said on Adom FM’s Morning Show, ‘Dwaso Nsem’ on Monday.
The assembly man’s comment follows death of four people at Kwabeng in the Atiwa District of the Eastern region.
The bodies of the four were retrieved from a mining pit by a search team Sunday.
The remains of the four have since been deposited at the Police Hospital morgue for autopsy, while investigations continue, a preliminary report on the incident said.
Residents alleged that the four were brutalized to death by the operation Vanguard taskforce.
According to the residents, the four were hired to a mining site at Kukuso, a community near Kwabeng to tow away some mining equipment on Saturday around 19:00 hours GMT, however they did not return raising suspicion among family and friends.
Bodies of the four were found in a very shallow river with bruises on their bodies.
The leader of the Operation Vanguard taskforce rejected claims linking the soldiers to the death of the four.
“I don’t know where the story is coming from. We have no hand in the killing of the four people,” the Commanding Officer of Operation Vanguard, Colonel William Agyapong said.
However, Mr Asiedu Bekoe on the same show charged the police to immediately investigate the killing since it has become rampant and causing fear and panic in the country.
Listen to the assemblyman
