A team of police and Forestry Commission officials has apprehended 16 armed thugs who are alleged to have been preventing officials of the Commission from accessing the Asenanyo Forest Reserve to clamp down on illegal mining activities.
The thugs, armed with pump-action guns, machetes and talismans, on Monday, August 31, 2026, attacked three Rapid Response Teams made up of 16 personnel from Bekwai, Mankranso and Nkawie, and managed to free four of their members who had been arrested by the Forestry Commission team.
A policeman, whose identity is being withheld, sustained an injury to the face during a confrontation between the security personnel and the thugs.
The incident follows several weeks of surveillance by officials of the Nkawie District of the Forestry Commission, led by the District Manager, Abraham Essel, at the Afipaye portion of the Asenanyo Forest.
The Forestry Commission on Sunday discovered that illegal operators had invaded a compartment of the reserve after moving two excavators and a bulldozer into the forest under the guise of undertaking land reclamation.
Four members of the group were arrested by the 16-member armed Rapid Response Team of the Forestry Commission drawn from Mankranso, Bekwai and Nkawie on Monday.
However, the suspects were freed after the armed thugs overpowered the response team members. The thugs reportedly usually pitch camp at the entrance of the reserve to guard their illegal activities.
The situation forced personnel of the Forestry Commission to retreat.
“Apparently, he started doing something like a reclamation from the off-reserve area and then heading towards the reserve. And so, Sunday, he entered.
“And so, Monday, we organised the Rapid Response Team, I think three teams from Mankranso, Bekwai and Nkawie, to visit the scene. And that is where, when they went, our team succeeded in arresting four persons. But the thugs there were a lot. The thugs there were armed.
“And so, they forcibly took the four persons from our team. And looking at the security situation, they had to retreat,” Mr Abraham Essel, Nkawie District Forestry Manager, said.
According to the Nkawie District Forestry Manager, a combined reinforcement team comprising police officers and a Rapid Response Team of the Forestry Commission returned to the site on Thursday, September 3, 2026.
It was at this stage that one Richmond Osei, who claimed to be undertaking a reclamation exercise, insisted that he had authorisation from the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council to carry out reclamation activities inside the reserve.
However, the Forestry Commission and the Environmental Protection Authority had no information about such authorisation.
Mr Osei had initiated what Forestry Commission officials described as “camouflaged” reclamation activities off-reserve before entering Compartment 202 to carry out what officials described as illegal mining activities, which he claimed were backed by the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council.
Asked whether Mr Osei and his team were engaged in reclamation, Mr Essel answered in the negative.
“No, they were mining. For the reclamation, they started something camouflage at the off-reserve. Inside there, they were mining. Yeah, so Compartment 202. I mean, if it is not in the forest reserve, we would not even bother ourselves to go there.”
Mr Essel told AdomNews that a fierce confrontation ensued between the Police-Forestry Commission team and the armed thugs as they resisted arrest.
“There was. Oh, yes. Today, yes. There was a confrontation. The police had a tough time before they could even apprehend those 16 guys. The kind of juju and some weapons they were holding, they are all at the Kumasi Police Station. I also have some photographs of them and some videos of the confrontation. It wasn’t an easy task at all. They resisted.”
Several suspects manning excavators and bulldozers, as well as many others working at the site, managed to escape and evaded arrest.
However, the Police-Forestry Commission team persevered despite facing opposition and arrested 16 of the thugs, who were armed with pump-action guns, machetes and various talismanic paraphernalia tied around their waists, arms and other parts of their bodies.
A policeman in the team sustained an injury during the operation.
The suspects were subsequently whisked to the Ashanti Regional Police Headquarters, where they are being profiled.
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