The National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) task force has intensified its nationwide operations, recording a major breakthrough during an intelligence-led operation at Oseikokrom in the Amansie West District of the Ashanti Region on Thursday, May 21.

During the carefully planned and coordinated raid, the task force arrested one Chinese national and seven Ghanaian illegal miners at the galamsey site.

According to NAIMOS, the suspects attempted to flee after sensing the approach of the task force but were intercepted and arrested.

The operation also led to the seizure of two Toyota Hilux pickup vehicles with registration numbers GX 555-24 and CN 5168-26.

Further assessment of the site revealed two excavators actively being used for illegal mining activities. The task force seized one excavator and transported it to the NAIMOS logistics holding area in Kumasi, while the second excavator was immobilised on-site after officers detached its monitor and control board.

NAIMOS explained that the excavator could not be moved because it had an attached tracker that could not be deactivated.

The two seized vehicles were also conveyed to the NAIMOS logistics holding area for safekeeping.

In addition, the task force retrieved one pump-action gun from the site and set ablaze several makeshift structures believed to have served as hideouts for the illegal miners.

The suspects arrested have been identified as Huang Weiye, a 38-year-old Chinese national; Augustine Manu, 23; Kwame Ntoadro, 41; Moses Alou, 30; Alex Lenley, 32; Yaw Owusu, 26; Shaibu Wuni, 26; and Patrick Bampoa, 22.

NAIMOS said the Chinese suspect has since been conveyed to its headquarters for further investigations and subsequent handover to the Ghana Immigration Service as required by law.

The Ghanaian suspects have also been handed over to the Antoakrom Police Station to assist with investigations and possible prosecution.

Speaking after the operation, the Director of Operations for NAIMOS, Colonel Dominic Buah, said the Secretariat would continue to intensify similar “surgical raids” in galamsey hotspots across the country.

He further stressed that the intensified operations and other strategies adopted by NAIMOS were helping to significantly disrupt entrenched illegal mining networks responsible for the destruction of cocoa farms, forest reserves, road networks, and water bodies across the country.