Galamsay operators arrested at Wamfie during an inspection tour by the Bono Regional Minister.

GALAMSEY KINGPIN ARRESTED IN AN INSPECTION TOUR BY THE BONO MINISTER AS SHE CONTINUES TO WAGE WAR AGAINST ILLEGAL LUMBERING AND GALAMSEY.

The Bono Regional Minister Justina Owusu-Banahene together with the security task force has on Wednesday arrested, a 36-year-old man suspected to be one of the most notorious illegal miners at Wamfie in the Dormaa East District.

The arrest follows after the Regional Minister waged war on the perpetrators of illegal mining and illegal lumbering across the region, which begun from Nkrankwanta and Dormaa Ahenkro on Tuesday.

Kofi Damoa a.k.a "Alla" who is alleged to be housing and sponsoring these illegal miners was arrested together with one accomplice Stephen Ansu at one of the galamsey sites closer to his house at Wamfie, a search at the house revealed two local guns, cartridges, pumping machine among other tools.

According to the minister, the regional operation against illegal lumbering and illegal miners is in fulfilment of the President’s directive to end the menace in water bodies and other areas in Ghana.

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She has challenged traditional rulers and other stakeholders to take a lead role in government’s renewed fight against illegal small-scale mining, saying as a country, “we cannot destroy our rivers and forest reserves for the sake of few people making money”.

The Minister explained that, the decentralised fight against galamsay and illegal lumbering is a call for all stakeholders, including chiefs, municipal and district chief executives (MDCEs) and residents of mining and forest communities, to play their part to safeguard the environment from further destruction.

Let us raise our voices to join the campaign against ‘galamsey’ and educating others through social media platforms and face-to-face to end the menace. We cannot turn back the hands of time, but we can grow trees and green our cities. So I urge all of us to join this call and win this together, If I fight alone, I cannot win; but if we fight together with one spirit, we shall win,” she said.