Illegal Miners: Gov�t Should Evacuate Us Through The Legal Means-

Galamsey operators at the Obuasi metropolitan area have appealed to government, to seek legal means in driving them away from their sites if the state wants to halt them from carrying out their business operations. Their appeal comes after a heated fight erupted between some illegal miners in the area and National Security operators who invaded the area. According Steven Sekyere, who reported for Okay FM, the clash between the security operators and the illegal miners resulted in exchange of gun fires which was exchanged between the two parties. Leaders of the miners who spoke to the reporter informed him that though government had warned to deal with the menace in the area, they were given the assurance by government that their target was basically Chinese miners and not the local miners. According to Steven Sekyere, �they arrested thirty one Chinese miners and seventeen Ghanaian miners�. The arrest according to the reporter did not bother the other miners who were ready to assist the security men discharge their duty. However, the fierce broke out when workers from Anglo God Ashanti capitalized on the situation and informed the security operators to evacuate the illegal miners from the sites they were working on. A joint Military and National Security team stormed the area with bulldozers and other heavy earth moving equipment to drive away the miners and seal off all illegal pits. �There also two hundred police men who mounted barriers are vantage points and searched moving cars. The situation threw the township into frenzy and the galmasey operators picked up arms to fight the security men who had been deployed to the area�.