Thirteen suspected illegal miners who operate in the Boi Tano forest reserve in the Western North Region have been placed under police detention by the Enchi District Magistrate Court.
It is anticipated that the accused, who range in age from 17 to 29, would be detained by the police for seven days.
However, Mr. Lawrence Buanor-Buer, the presiding judge, advised the police to refer these cases to a higher court that deals with similar issues because his court was not prepared to handle them.
The Jema Asemkrom and Boi Tano forest reserves, which are situated in the Elubo area close to Samreboi, were among the eight forest reserves in the Enchi Forest District, according to Mr. Joe Appiah Frimpong, the district manager, who previously informed the Ghana News Agency (GNA).
He claimed to have information that several miners had set up camp in the forest reserve and were engaging in illegal activity there.
According to Mr. Frimpong, four teams organised by the Western North Regional Forest Services Division and the Enchi Forest District carried out an intelligence-led operation to drive away illicit miners at the Boi Tano and Jema Asemkrom forest reserves on Tuesday, January 20, 2026, from 1:00 am to 6:30 am.
The suspects, Philip Kanza, Biney Benedict, Francis Achiah, Joshua Asare, Emmanuel Amankwa, and Martin Kwame, were taken into custody after the task force thoroughly raided the location as part of the investigation.
Latif Amadu, Kwabena Mensah, Albert Mensah, Karim Mahama, Adoko Hayford, Ezekiel Ajuusine, and Kwasi Desmond are the others.
According to him, the group also confiscated two water pumping equipment, 10 cell phones, four shovels, and burned five water pumping machines and four temporary buildings.
“It took us four and a half hours to walk from the boundary to where they had perched their camps,” the district manager emphasised.
All of the suspects were turned over to the Enchi Police Command for additional investigation and prosecution, according to Mr. Frimpong.
Source: newsthemegh.com