The National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) has apprehended a foreman of an illegal small-scale mining site at Akyem Morso, near Juaso in the Asante Akim South District of the Ashanti Region.

This is as a result of a targeted enforcement operation conducted along the Kume River across the lands of Morso, Kyekyebiase, and Bimma.

The suspect, identified as Elder David Bobie Peter, disclosed during questioning that he is an Elder of The Church of Pentecost branch in Konongo.

The operation commenced when the NAIMOS task force descended on a sprawling illegal mining enclave at Kyekyebiase, where several youth were caught actively engaged in mining activities at the time of the surprise raid.

Upon sighting the advance of the task force, the illegal miners scattered in all directions, abandoning their equipment in a frantic bid to escape arrest.

The task force pursued the fleeing miners over a considerable distance, but the chase yielded no arrests at that stage, as the miners proved to be intimately familiar with the bush paths and escape routes within and around the galamsey enclave.

Notwithstanding the inability to apprehend the fleeing operators, the task force proceeded to dismantle eight (8) Chanfang machines and four (4) wooden gold-washing platforms through controlled burning.

Several pipe hoses used in the illegal mining operation were also set ablaze, while twelve (12) water pumping machines were seized as exhibits.

A detailed sweep of the surrounding bushes subsequently revealed fresh excavator tracks leading into an adjoining cocoa farm, where a Sany excavator had been deliberately concealed among the crops in an apparent attempt to evade detection.

An assessment of the machine indicated that its control boards and monitor had already been removed or disabled by the suspected operators before the task force’s arrival.

The excavator operator attached to the NAIMOS team nonetheless proceeded to render the machine completely inoperable by detaching its oil pump and other vital components.

It was in the course of this sweep that a middle-aged man, dressed in a yellow T-shirt and white shorts, emerged at the scene and approached the task force. Upon being interviewed, the man claimed he was simply visiting his farm in the area.

His explanation, however, did not hold for long. Intelligence received by the task force established that the man was, in fact, a foreman of one of the illegal mining sites operating in the locality.

Confronted with this intelligence, the suspect, who identified himself as David Bobie Peter, eventually confessed that he was the foreman of an illegal mining site located at Morso.

He further admitted that he had been dispatched to the scene by his boss, a certain Mr. Appiah, with explicit instructions to verify the presence of the NAIMOS task force after news of the operation began circulating within the mining community.

At this point, Mr. Bobie Peter also stated that he is an Elder of The Church of Pentecost in Konongo, a revelation that has injected a troubling moral dimension into the case.

Acting on his admissions, Elder David Bobie Peter then led the NAIMOS task force to his mining site at Morso, where the full scale of the destruction under his supervision became evident.

The site presented a grim picture of large-scale environmental degradation, with the Kume River heavily polluted and substantial portions of its natural course diverted to support the illicit operation.

A second Sany excavator was found at the site, and the task force proceeded to immobilize it by removing its oil pump, as the machine had neither a monitor nor a control board installed.

Elder David Bobie Peter has since been formally apprehended and handed over to the Konongo District Police Station for further investigation and prosecution.

NAIMOS wishes to use this opportunity to issue a stern caution to all persons engaged in galamsey, regardless of social standing, religious office, or political affiliation, against activities that continue to ravage the nation’s environment and pose grave health risks to surrounding communities.

The Secretariat further calls on all local administrative authorities, traditional rulers, intelligence agencies, and security services across affected districts to intensify their monitoring and enforcement efforts to forestall such acts of environmental criminality within their jurisdictions.

The fight against illegal mining demands a unified, unwavering, and uncompromising response from every arm of the state and every section of society, and NAIMOS remains resolute in its mandate to bring offenders to book, irrespective of their station in life.