The National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) has sustained its nationwide offensive against illegal mining with two major operations in the Ashanti and Eastern Regions, targeting sites responsible for severe environmental destruction and the devastation of farmlands.
On Monday, 8 December, the taskforce conducted an intelligence-led operation in the Adanse Anomabo village in the Bosome Freho District of the Ashanti Region, following multiple petitions from the local cocoa farmers’ association.
The farmers had complained of illegal miners invading and destroying large sections of their cocoa plantations.
Upon arrival at the Kakra mining site, NAIMOS personnel discovered extensive damage to the farmlands, which had left farmers distressed and outraged.
The illegal miners fled the scene when the taskforce approached, abandoning their tools and equipment. Troops destroyed all implements found on site.
Six excavators identified at the illegal mining camps were immobilised due to the unavailability of lowbed trucks to transport them. A pump-action gun and seven cartridges discovered on the site were seized for further investigation.
Several makeshift shelters serving as hideouts for the miners were demolished and set ablaze, while all pipe hoses used in mining operations were destroyed.
In a separate operation that same day, NAIMOS intensified its crackdown in the Eastern Region, carrying out a series of strategic patrols along known illegal mining corridors.
The day-long exercise formed part of the state’s renewed commitment to reclaiming forests, river bodies, and public lands from galamsey operators whose activities continue to threaten national water and food security.
