Magistrate of the Sefwi Wiawso District Court, Eric Baah Boateng has ordered Chief Inspector George Asante Noye, a prosecutor in a case of the arrest of 10 illegal miners in the Krokosua Hills Forest Reserve, which included four Chinese nationals, to produce documentary evidence of the death and subsequent cremation of two of the Chinese nationals at the next sitting, scheduled for April 15, 2024.

On 12th December 2023, staff of the Forestry Commission arrested 10 persons engaged in illegal mining in the Krokosua Hills Forest Reserve. The 10 suspects included four Chinese nationals and six Ghanaians, two of whom were policemen.

Their names were given as: Men Shi Yu, 30; Weng Yong Cheng, 30; Wen FU Lin, 58; and Lee Pin, 60, all Chinese. The Ghanaians were Edward Owusu, 25; Kwesi Frank, 42; Abudu Dramani, 41; and Joe Nabur, 27. The two police officers involved were Detective Sergeant Yahaya Andrews and Lance Corporal Azantillow.

The 10 suspects were subsequently processed for court and they have appeared in court on two occasions.

At the court's third sitting on 15th March 2024, when the case was called, only six Ghanaians, including the two policemen were present.

The four Chinese nationals were all absent.

The Magistrate questioned the Prosecutor on the whereabouts of the four Chinese nationals, to which the latter responded that two of them have died and had since been cremated.

The judge Eric Baah Boateng then ordered the Prosecutor to bring the sureties for the four Chinese nationals to Court at the next sitting to produce documentary evidence of the death and subsequent cremation of the two Chinese nationals for the court's next line of action.

The case, which was adjourned to April 15, 2024, has also been forwarded to the Attorney General's Department in Takoradi for advice.