The National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) Task force operating in the Ahanta West Municipality has seized two excavators and arrested a suspected galamsey kingpin and four others after resisting an attempted bribe at Cape Three Points.

The operation, conducted on Saturday, 31 January 2026, targeted several illegal mining sites within the Cape Three Points Forest Reserve, where illegal mining activities had caused extensive destruction of forest cover.

At about 0840 hours, the task force raided the affected sites and burnt makeshift structures and illegal mining equipment found in the area.

During the operation, the team retrieved two excavators that had been deliberately immobilised by illegal miners, who removed and concealed their monitors at the site. NAIMOS operatives successfully recovered the machines and made arrangements to transport them to the NAIMOS equipment holding yard in Takoradi.

However, while the excavators were being moved from the forest to the main road for onward transportation, an individual suspected to be a galamsey kingpin, identified as Bright Mensah, approached a member of the task force in an attempt to secure the release of the excavators.

The suspect, who claimed ownership of the excavators, arrived in a white pickup vehicle with registration number GT 8299-24 and allegedly offered a bribe of GH₵20,000 to a taskforce operative.

Bright Mensah and four other illegal miners, later traced to his galamsey site, were subsequently arrested by the task force and handed over to the Abura Police Station in the Agona Nkwanta District for further investigations. The suspect’s pickup vehicle was also seized.