Dozens of barrels of diesel, a boat, chamfan generator and other mining equipment worth thousands of Ghana Cedis, have been burnt on the River Offin enclave in the Upper Denkyira East municipality of the Central Region.
The equipment were seized from illegal miners on the River Offin by a taskforce set up by the Small Scale Miners Association of Ghana (SSMAG), in collaboration with Operation Vanguard and Galamstop.
The visit by the three bodies to the Offin River was part of efforts to augment the government’s actions in curbing illegal mining in the country.
The exercise, which formed part of daily routine visits to illegal mining sites in the catchment areas, was to serve as a deterrent to others.
The items were destroyed with an excavator before it was set ablaze completely.
Dozens of illegal miners were also chased away during the visit.
President Nana Akufo-Addo in an attempt to save Ghana’s water bodies from destruction, declared war on illegal mining activities in the country in 2017.
The government, therefore, launched the Operation Vanguard, made up of a military-police joint task force (JTF) in 2017, to combat the activities of illegal miners otherwise known as ‘galamsey’ in the country.
