Two Chinese nationals have been arrested by the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS), through a joint operation with the Blue Water Guards, in a pre-dawn enforcement raid at Sanfo Adiam in the Amansie East District of the Ashanti Region.
The suspects have been identified as Lu Honggeng, aged 53 years, and Nong Zisun, aged 41 years.
Their arrest was carried out at the heart of an active galamsey enclave where sections of the Dankai River had been blocked and diverted.
The joint operation took place between 0400 and 0700 hours on Sunday, 24 May 2026, following credible intelligence of organised illegal mining activity along the Dankai River corridor at Sanfo Adiam.
According to NAIMOS, the task force mobilised from the Manso Adubia operational base in the pre-dawn hours, deliberately exploiting the cover of darkness and the element of surprise to close on the active mining points before the operators could complete their disengagement.
“Upon closing up onto the site, the NAIMOS operatives observed several individuals actively engaged in illegal mining activities along the course of the river.
“A number of Ghanaian operators were sighted at a distance, one of whom was observed wielding a pump action firearm. Several of the illegal miners, including the armed individual, fled into the surrounding bushes on sighting the taskforce, exploiting the cover of the terrain to evade apprehension,” It said.
It explained that suspects attempted to flee the scene, but were pursued and successfully apprehended by the joint team in a swift counter manoeuvre.
NAIMOS added that the operators had blocked and diverted sections of the river into an artificial dam constructed at the location, in order to channel its waters into their mining infrastructure and thereby facilitate the extraction and washing of mineralised material.
They described the deliberate reconfiguration as a “profound assault” on the hydrological integrity of the river and on the rights of the downstream communities that depend on its waters for their daily existence.
The arrested individuals have since been escorted to the NAIMOS Secretariat in Accra for further investigation and onward handover to the Ghana Immigration Service as required.
According to NAIMOS, the blocking of the River Dankai, its damming, and the disappearance of its natural course into artificial channels, which were created by the illegal miners to serve their unlawful trade, have all been effectively disrupted.
It pledged to maintain its current sustained operations at the Amansie East enclave and other areas until the River Dankai and others are restored to their original states.
The Secretariat also cautions all illegal miners to desist from such reckless activities, which continue to devastate the country’s water bodies and forests.
