Bono Region: 24-Year-Old Fined GHC1.2 Billion For Illegal Mining

Alexander Addo, 24, and unemployed, has been fined GHC1.2 billion for engaging in small-scale mining without a licence.

Addo pleaded guilty to the charge. In default, he will serve 20 years imprisonment in hard labour, the circuit court at Dormaa-Ahenkro in the Bono Region said.

Police prosecutor Emmanuel Asare told the court presided over by Samuel Djanie Kotey, that the complainant, a farmer, and the convict were residents of different suburbs at Wamfie, the district capital of Dormaa East, Bono Region.

Asare said the complainant owned farmland located at Wammu near Wamfie, where part of that land had been cultivated with plantain and vegetables.

He said for more than a year now, the convict and other ‘galamseyers’ (illegal miners) had taken possession of the land and caused great damage to it.

Asare added that all efforts made by the police and the complainant to arrest those illegal miners failed, until about four months ago when the complainant, with the assistance of some young men, arrested the accused while he was actively engaging in illegal mining on the farmland.

The prosecutor said while escorting the accused to the police station, he escaped.
When the complainant visited her farm at about 1700 hours on Sunday 12 December 2022, she met the accused and one other accomplice actively engaged in mining on the farmland.

He said the complainant hid herself and invited her son, a witness in the case, to the scene and they planned on how to arrest the miners.

The complainant and her son secretly left for home and came back in the evening at about 1900 hours, only to meet the accused and his accomplice washing and sieving some soil by the bank of the Wam River with the intention of getting gold.

The prosecutor said the accused and his accomplice fled when they saw the complainant and her son. However, the accused was arrested and handed over to the police.

The convict admitted the offence during interrogation and was sentenced on his own plea.

Source: Asaase Radio