Environmental journalist, Erastus Asare Donkor, has made allegations regarding the military’s involvement in shielding an illegal mining operation deep within the Anwiaso East Forest Reserve in the Western North region.

Speaking on The Pulse on JoyNews on Wednesday, 19 June, Mr Donkor disclosed that the investigative team has been monitoring the illegal operation for months, during which time they uncovered extensive environmental damage and suspicious security activity around the site.

“We have been monitoring them for some time now,” he said. “They have military personnel protecting them. They’ve mounted a barrier manned by fully clothed soldiers and some people wielding weapons, parading as national security operatives.”

Mr Donkor described the scale of destruction as “massive,” noting that approximately 15 football fields’ worth of forest land has already been torn apart by mining pits and excavators.

“This mining has been going on for months within that particular enclave,” he continued.

“We have submitted footages to the necessary authorities who should know, and we were expecting that something would have been done. But we have not heard anything from them. That is why we are also putting out this information.”

The site, which he described as a “secret illegal mining enclave,” is said to be entirely unregistered and unauthorised, operating without any valid mining licence.

“I say illegal because we have checked — it’s totally unregistered. The people operating in that enclave do not have any licence whatsoever to be mining there,” he confirmed.

Read also: JoyNews uncovers galamsey enclave in Anwiaso East forest reserve with over 30 excavators