In the quiet, early hours of Sunday, May 24, 2026, the silence of Sanfo Adiam in Ashanti Region was shattered by the swift action of the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAiMOS).
Working in tandem with the Blue Water Guards, the Manso Adubia task force executed a carefully planned pre-dawn raid, striking at the heart of a notorious galamsey enclave along the Dankai River.
The operation, which began under the cloak of darkness between 4:00 and 7:00 a.m., was fueled by credible intelligence of organized illegal mining in the area. As the task force approached, they spotted several miners at work, among them a Ghanaian wielding a pump-action firearm. Sensing the encroaching danger, most of the illegal operators, including the armed individual, vanished into the surrounding thickets. However, two Chinese nationals attempted to flee but were swiftly pursued and apprehended by the operatives.
The arrested suspects, identified as Lu Honggeng (53) and Nong Zisun (41), were found at the very center of a sophisticated mining operation. The most alarming discovery was the deliberate engineering of the Dankai River: the illegal miners had blocked and redirected its natural flow into an artificial dam, channeling water to fuel their extraction activities. This manipulation of the river’s course was a stark assault on the environment and a threat to downstream communities that rely on its waters.
Upon securing the site and the suspects, the joint team dismantled the illegal damming infrastructure. The two Chinese nationals were escorted to the NAiMOS Secretariat in Accra, pending further investigation and a handover to the Ghana Immigration Service.
The presence of the firearm at the site underscored the escalating security risks facing anti-illegal mining operatives and highlighted the importance of continued vigilance.
In a statement following the operation, NAiMOS assured the public that the disruption of the river and the illegal mining operation was complete, and pledged to sustain its crackdown in Amansie East and beyond until rivers like the Dankai are fully restored. The Secretariat also issued a stern warning to illegal miners, urging them to cease activities that devastate the nation’s water bodies and forests.
Source: Apexnewsgh.com