The Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has arrested 125 Chinese nationals for engaging in small scale mining in the Central, Western and Ashanti regions.
A statement to the Ghana News Agency, signed by Assistant Commissioner of Immigration (ACOI) Mr Francis Palmdeti, Head of GIS Public Affairs, said the illegal miners were arrested during a security operations conducted in the Western and Central regions where 61 were apprehended.
The remaining 64 were arrested during another operation in the Ashanti Region conducted by the Military and the National Security.
According GIS, the invasion of the small scale mining industry by foreigners had reached alarming proportions which had necessitated very decisive action in dealing with the problem.
�This operation is the first of a series which would be carried out across the nation and the Service would not relent in its duty to arrest and repatriate all foreigners who work without the requisite work and resident permits,� the statement stated.
The statement noted that the GIS had embarked on Prior Visa Verification at the point of embarkation before setting off to Ghana and also collaborating with airline officials at the Kotoka International Airport.
�This collaboration so far has been quite successful since the airlines have succeeded in preventing hundreds of individuals attempting to embark with fake visas.
�The GIS would apply all legitimate measures to make Ghana an unattractive destination for undesirable migrants,� the statement said.
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