In the Domama Electoral Area of the district, in Bonsie and Amponsaso, the Wassa East District Taskforce in the Western Region has destroyed two Chan Fan machines and recovered trucks used for illicit mining. Three excavator monitor boards and gears, one control board, seven batteries, pumping machinery, and six washing blankets were all taken during the raid.
The two Chan fan machines used to mine on water bodies and a few other unnamed things were burnt on fire to prevent their future use, according to Mr. Frank Kwamena Danso, the district information officer, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency. No arrests had been made as of yet because the offenders left the scene before the taskforce arrived.
He continued, “Activities at the sites were unfathomable, the forest and river bodies had significantly been degraded and depleted with multiple dugouts,” demonstrating the extent of the environmental damage caused by illicit mining. For any live thing that moves around the place, these are death traps. Some of the knock-on impacts of illegal mining include the destruction of farms, high rates of school dropout, and an increase in social vices.
The District Chief Executive, Mr. Emmanuel Boakye, who confirmed the report, voiced concern about some security officers acting as sources for those “miscreants in the criminal business.” He urged the populace to assist the government in its efforts to put a stop to illegal mining in order to spare the nation from the detrimental effects. “If these do not stop today, a time is coming that unexplained illness will befall mankind, scarcity of food and drinkable water”.
