The Forestry Commission has arrested the Chief of Manse, Nana Kwame Sobre II, and nine other suspects, for engaging in illegal mining.
Seven Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) from the Rapid Response Unit (RRU) of the Forestry Commission on Wednesday dawn, carried out a swoop on illegal miners 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 coordinated by the Forest Services Division Headquarters and the Rapid Response Unit.
The swoop was carried out to flush out illegal miners who have entered the Reserve with heavy machinery, and had destroyed the forest cover and polluted water bodies through their illegal mining operations. These illegal acts are alleged to be backed by some top political actors and traditional authorities in the Region.
The RRTs arrested 10 persons who gave their names as Nana Kwame Sobre II (Chief of Manse); 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.
The Team also immobilised two excavators and two heavy duty generator plants found at the illegal mining site.
The arrested persons have been sent to the Dunkwa Police Station from where they will be transferred to the appropriate Police jurisdiction in the Western North Region to be processed for court.
Speaking to the press, the Coordinator of the Rapid Response Unit, Mr. Samuel Darko Akonnor, issued a strong warning to all such perpetrators to desist from such acts because the Forestry Commission is ever prepared to fight them to save the nation’s forest and wildlife resources as well as water bodies for now and posterity.
Source: Peacefmonline.com
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Before limiting the importation of any product the govt of Ghana must first ensure that the item is being produced locally first. Otherwise there would be an acute shortage. It was PNDC that liberalised trade in Ghana, hoping that FDI inflows would increase. Clearly, the importation of fruit juice, cooking oil and toilet paper isn't wise because we have the local capacity to produce them. We have some of the largest palm oil plantations in West Africa and we can grow many fruits. We can't import orange juice?