Awuah pleaded guilty to the charges and was convicted on his own plea.

Prosecuting, Police Sergeant Enoch Assan-Donkoh told the court, presided over by Mr. Charles Owusu Nsiah, that the complainant, Solomon Donkor, is a farmer residing at Aboso, while Awuah lives at Ndadieso, a suburb of Aboso.

According to the prosecution, the incident occurred on April 19, 2025, around 10:30 p.m., when the complainant and his family had locked their homes and retired to bed.

At about 2:00 a.m., the complainant’s elder brother—who is a key witness in the case—woke up to pray and detected smoke in his room. Upon stepping outside, he discovered that Awuah had set some clothes on fire and was attempting to spread the flames to the electricity meter box in an apparent attempt to burn down the entire house.

The witness raised an alarm, prompting residents, including the complainant, to rush to the scene. They managed to apprehend Awuah and handed him over to the police at Aboso, where a formal complaint was lodged.

During a search, police found a lighter in the convict’s possession. Upon interrogation, Awuah admitted to the offence and blamed his actions on the influence of alcohol and Indian hemp.

Source: GNA

ALSO READ:

• 2 ‘galamseyers’ shot dead, another in critical condition at Subri Nkwanta

• Blue Water Guards destroy galamsey equipment on Mansi River

ALSO READ:

• 23-year-old illegal miner jailed 20 years for robbery

• Illegal miner jailed 22-years for defiling 3-year-old girl

The Eastern Region has become a focal point as President Akufo-Addo intensifies efforts to protect the country’s water bodies from the destructive impact of illegal mining.

Minister Acheampong spoke candidly about the difficulties his team faces, particularly when confronting large groups of heavily armed miners.

In one striking example, he detailed an incident where a task force was overwhelmed by 400 illegal miners during an operation.

“Our task force, made up of military, immigration, police, and intelligence officers, was simply outnumbered,” Mr Acheampong said, adding, “We were about 30 men, and they were 400.

The minister stated that while the government remains committed to fighting illegal mining, it is far from a straightforward battle.

“Fighting illegal miners is not as easy as sitting around this table discussing it. People think it’s just about going in with guns and clearing them out, but it’s much more complicated,” he explained.

A recurring theme of the discussion for some time now was the overwhelming scale of destruction caused by these illegal activities, which is particularly concentrated around water bodies.

“Our main fight is on the water bodies because it’s where the biggest issue lies. The water feeds all of us, and if it gets totally destroyed, we’ll face a crisis of food shortages and loss of lives,” the minister stated in response.

Despite criticisms from civil society organisations and other stakeholders calling for a state of emergency, Mr Acheampong defended the government’s approach, emphasising the difficulty in dealing with the sheer number of miners on the ground.

“There’s a lot of misinformation. We don’t retreat because we don’t want to fight. It’s because we’re sometimes outnumbered. How do 30 security personnel fight off 400 armed men?” he asked.

The minister also pointed out a disturbing trend, stating that many of the illegal miners encountered are non-Ghanaians.

“Unfortunately, most of the people in the pits today are not Ghanaians. That’s the sad part. We arrest them, and when processing them, we try to engage their embassies, but sometimes they are overwhelmed too,” Mr Acheampong lamented.

Reflecting on the government’s response to the crisis, the Eastern Regional Minister admitted that while progress has been made, more support is needed.

He welcomed President Akufo-Addo’s recent directives but remained realistic about the challenges ahead, particularly in managing the sheer numbers of miners and their destructive activities.

Mr Acheampong’s comments shed light on the scale of the challenge illegal mining presents, not just to law enforcement but to the country’s entire environmental future.

The fight, he stated, is not just about catching miners, but about saving the nation’s vital water bodies from irreversible damage.

In default, he will serve one year in prison.

Asante, a resident of New Atuabo in the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipality, pleaded guilty to escaping from lawful custody and causing damage.

The court presided over by Hathia Ama Manu, ordered him to sign a bond to be of good behaviour for six months, failure of which he would serve an additional two years of jail term.

Mrs Manu fined and bonded the convict based on his plea to serve as a deterrent to others.

Prosecuting, Superintendent of Police, Juliana Essel-Dadzie, told the court that personnel from the Ghana Prisons Service, Tarkwa were the complainants.

On May 10, 2024, Asante appeared before the Tarkwa District Court for stealing and was remanded in the Tarkwa Local Prison.

On Friday, May 17, at about 0700 hours, while the complainants were having their weekly devotion service at the prison canteen, Asante took advantage of the few officers on duty and jumped onto the shed that provided shade at the prison yard.

Supt. Essel-Dadzie said he ran about 40 meters on the roof, damaged the iron sheets and scaled over the wall to the backyard of the prison.

The complainants raised the alarm, and drew the attention of other officers who chased Asante, recaptured him some meters from the prison and handed him over to the Police.

Source: GNA

ALSO READ:

• Court sentences man to life imprisonment for triple murder

• Ghana Police, Prisons, and Immigration Services open recruitment for 2021 applicants

Ebenezer Adu’s victim is a 9-year-old currently in Primary 3.

A source close to Adom News indicates that, the suspect and the little girl’s mother reside in the same house.

According to the source, the woman had requested the suspect to provide a place for the little girl to sleep in his room whenever her boyfriend or fiancé visited her at night.

The source revealed that, the miner took advantage of the offer and defiled the little girl on numerous occasions.

The entire situation came to light when the little girl went to school with a mobile phone bought for her by the illegal miner.

The girl’s mother, Faustina Yamu, also confirmed the story to Adom News over the phone.

She said the suspect has been handed over to the Obuasi police, while her daughter is currently receiving treatment at the hospital.

ALSO READ:

• This is what a father told his 13-yr-old girl after sleeping with her [Watch]

• Mate dead, driver injured in accident on Accra-Tema motorway

He was arrested on Sunday, following a formal petition by the Minerals Commission to get the suspect arrested for his alleged illegal mining activities in the area.

The suspect is being held in Police custody to assist with investigations.

The petition signed by Mr Charles Zantione, the Acting District Officer of the Minerals Commission at Assin Fosu, was copied to Mrs Justina Marigold Assan, the Central Regional Minister.

Others are Twifo Atti-Morkwa District Police Command, Oseadeayo Kwesi Kennin IV, the Paramount Chief of Twifo Atti-Morkwa, and the Small-Scale Miners’ Association.

Among others, the petition implored them to arrest and prosecute Gyebi for illegal mining to serve as a deterrent to others.

Per the records of the Commission, the suspect had two concessions at Mintaso (GMA Gyebi Mining Enterprise and Eastside Precious Mining Enterprise).

However, he operates outside the confines of his allocated concessions and had no mineral rights over the site he was currently mining.

The Commission alleged that the suspect intimidates and chases away prospective concessionaires from their respective sites by forcefully claiming to own areas that did not belong to him.

It further accused the suspect and his armed men of vehemently resisting the Commission’s order to stop working on the site and drove its inspection team out of the site.

Again, the Commission said the suspect did not observe any provisions for him to reclaim the mined-out portions of the site.

The Commission claims that the suspect’s illegal mining activities were not environmentally friendly and posed risk to people in neighbouring communities.

ALSO READ:

• Legal adviser to illegal mining committee speaks on Prof Frimpong-Boateng’s report

• 9 arrested in Atewa Forest for illegal mining

The deceased was among six others who were in a mining pit when they had wind that members of the Task Force, led by the District Chief Executive(DCE) for the area, Isaac Kofi Marfo, were heading in their direction.

According to the police in the area, the Task Force, made up of about 20 men with some in Military Uniforms in four vehicles including the official Vehicle of the District Chief Executive, stormed Achiase -Atuntuma Mining enclave on an operation.

In the course of events, five of the men who were believed to be soldiers with K47 assault rifles aboard a Land Rover vehicle with the inscription Anti-illegal Mining Task Force fired gunshots indiscriminately and in the process, seven young men who were then mining illegally in an abandoned mining pit within the vicinity ran helter-skelter

Six of the men in the pit managed to swim out of the pit but victim Ronald Kortey aged 32 drowned.

The body of the deceased was later retrieved and has been deposited at Nyinahin Community Mortuary awaiting autopsy.

Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Achiase District Police Commander, Superintendent Patrick Gblorkpor, said the suspect, Kofi Kwakye alias Tompoo, 25, and the deceased, Kwame Ofori, 35, were both illegal miners in the Tarkwa area.

He said the two miners, who were close friends, returned to their hometown, Achiase, last weekend to enjoy their booty.

Supt Gblorkpor said the two friends went to a wee base at Achiase last Sunday to smoke the stuff. He said around 9 p.m, there was a misunderstanding between the two friends which developed into a fight, in which Ofori brutally assaulted Kwakye.

Stabbing

According to Supt Gblorkpor, after the fight, Kwakye went to his house, armed himself with a sharp knife, returned to the base and stabbed Ofori in the neck, chest and abdomen, killing him instantly, after which he fled.

He said when the police had information about the incident and rushed to the scene, they found Ofori lying in a pool of blood dead with multiple wounds on his body.

The district commander said the body of Ofori has been deposited in the morgue of the Oda Government Hospital for autopsy and preservation while the police were carrying out investigations into the matter.

Meanwhile, the police and the youth of Achiase have mounted an intensive search for Kwakye who is on the run.

According to the man, who seems very bold in the video, he is unemployed, hence the President asking him to quit the illegal job won’t work.

He said loudly: We are still mining and the work is ongoing. Won’t we eat? This year unless you kill all of us.

This has been our job and you cannot stop the work now, how do you do that? What jobs have you secured for us before you gave the decision to ban Galamsey? He quizzed.

MORE:

• South Africa to allow women marry multiple husbands; here is why

• Delay’s childhood photo causes stir on social media

• Tracey Boakye drops hot photos to mark daughter’s birthday

Watch the video below:

Meanwhile, the Ghana Armed Forces has commenced an operation to remove all persons and logistics involved in mining from Ghana’s water bodies.

The operation, which has been authorised by President Akufo-Addo, started on Wednesday, April 28, 2021, with River Pra in the Central and Western Regions of Ghana.

The victim whose name was given as Marfo, 45, was trapped in a mining pit when he and three others had returned to check on the state of dynamite they had lit underground.

The miners went underground after the dynamite failed to blast at the expected time.

The miners have been blasting gold-bearing rocks in the area for some months now.

A resident of Amenam, Decent Amedor, has told Joy News that Marfo who is a known illegal miner died on the spot during the unexpected explosion.

“He died in the pit during the blast. His severed left leg was hanging in his Wellington boots when the police team found their bodies,” he explained.

ALSO READ:

• Stop aiding foreigners in galamsey – Chinese Ambassador

• 41-year-old cocoa farmer found dead in galamsey pit in Western Region

The other three, according to Mr Amedor, sustained severe injuries and are on admission at the Abirem Government Hospital.

Meanwhile, the body of the deceased has been deposited at the same hospital for preservation.

Akwasi Adu who is reported to be as an illegal miner and resident at Kokotro-Abodom near Bekwai sexually abused the child left in his care by her parents who are his neighbours.

ALSO: Audio: Seth Terkper reacts to ‘no new taxes’ in 2020 budget

Police detective Inspector Stephen Ofori, told the court on September 27, that the grandmother of the victim heard the girl crying in the convict’s house.

She rushed in only to see the child naked with a mixture of blood and faeces around her genitals with Mr Adu preparing to bathe her.

ALSO: Police activate hotlines to report police misconduct on roads

The prosecution said the old lady took the girl to a private hospital where she was referred to the Pramso Government Hospital.

Despite his initial denial of doing anything to the child, the accused admitted to the offence in his caution statement to the police.

The court presided over by Justice A.W.K.Nawurah, convicted and sentenced Akwasi Adu to 22-year imprisonment.