Nana Kwame Sobre II, arrowed, with the other suspects
The Ghana Forestry Commission (FC) arrested a traditional ruler and nine others last Wednesday for engaging in illegal mining in a forest area, a release has stated.
Nana Kwame Sobre II, Chief of Manse, and the nine other suspects, were arrested in a swoop at the Manse portion of the Anhwiaso East Forest Reserve, near Diaso in the Bibiani Forest District of the Western North Region.
The operation was carried out by the Seven Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) from the Rapid Response Unit (RRU) of the FC and coordinated by the Forest Services Division Headquarters and the RRU.
The release added that the RRU initiated the swoop to flush out illegal miners who had entered the forest reserve with heavy machinery, destroying the forest cover and polluting water bodies through their illegal mining operations.
Besides Nana Sobre II, the other suspects gave their names as Osman Shaibu; Nana Kwasi; Desmond Nkrumah; Abraham Donkor; Frank Mensah; Richard Kurofie; Patrick Ayambila; Abdul Salam and Rasad Nuoeeikaa.
“According to the rest of the suspects, the first suspect, Nana Kwame Sobre II, the chief of Manse, was the one who recruited them into the illegal mining business,” said the release.
The team immobilised two excavators and two heavy duty generator plants found at the illegal mining site.
The Dunkwa Police Station detained the suspects from where they will be transferred to the appropriate Police jurisdiction in the Western North Region for processing and prosecution.
Speaking to the press, Samuel Darko Akonnor, Coordinator of the RRU, cautioned perpetrators of such acts to stop “because the FC is ever prepared to fight them to save the nation’s forest and wildlife resources as well as water bodies for now and posterity. “