The Forestry Commission has organised a major raid on illegal mining camps degrading the Yakombo Forest Reserve in the Buipe Forest District of the Savannah Region.

11 Chinese nationals and their 10 Ghanaian collaborators were arrested in active illegal mining within the reserve.

The suspects were rounded up in Compartments 50 and 51 of the Reserve, which is close to Tuntumba in the Bole-Bamboi District.

The Chinese suspects have been identified as Tang Shao Qi, 28; He Peng,40; Zhou Qin Sar,25; Wu Xu, 39; He Chuang Ye, 45; Cheng Lin ,40; Long Xi, 32; Yang Gesheng,51; Zhang Hongzhaojie,34; Zhou Peng, 39 and Wu Yujie, 24.

The 10 Ghanaians include Alhassan Yakubu; Daniel Mba, 33; Pious Kwabena, 20; Emmanuel Amankra,40; Seidu Suleman,44; Sampson Akawuni,22; Thadeus Gideon,27; Mohammed Salim, 21; Mohammed Kanamu, 25; and Saaka Yakubu, 22.

Fifty- one personnel of the Forestry Commission, made up of forest guards from the Buipe and Bole Forest District offices of the Forest Services Division, and three Rapid Response teams were engaged in the operation.

A Toyota Hilux and two Great Wall pick-up vehicles; three Howo tipper trucks; and one  Man Diesel low-bed truck carrying an excavator were seized.

All the suspects have been handed over to the Damongo Regional Police for investigations and prosecution, while the seized equipment has been deposited at the Mole National Park, which is under the management of the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission.

The Yakombo Forest Reserve, which was established in 1974, is the largest in Ghana and covers an area of approximately one thousand, 210 kilometer Square.