Staff of the Bibiani Forest District of the Forest Services Division (FSD), in collaboration with members of the Rapid Response Team of the Forestry Commission, have arrested a Chinese national for engaging in illegal mining.
The team also immobilised two excavators belonging to the Chinese official, whose name was Lin Chil, 49 years old.
This was in a statement from the office of the Corporate Affairs and Media Relations of the Forestry Commission.
The incident, the statement said, happened during a swoop carried out at dawn on Friday, July 5, 2024, in the Anhwiaso East Forest Reserve in the Bibiani Forest District of the Western North Region to combat illegal gold mining in the forest reserve.
Lin Chil has since been handed over to the Bibiani Police Command for further investigation and prosecution.
The statement said about 20 illegal miners who were also on-site, managed to escape arrest as they bolted upon seeing the Forestry Commission Team.
The team also saw one excavator, which they could not have access to because it was surrounded by gaping holes dug out by these illegal miners.
The Forestry Commission Team embarked on the operation based on intelligence gathered that some illegal miners had invaded the Manse Community portion of the Anhwiaso East Forest Reserve and were guarded by heavily armed men, led by one retired military officer, ex-WO Daniel Antwi.
In June 2024, the statement said staff of the Forestry Commission embarked on a similar operation in the same reserve and immobilised some gold processing equipment.
A few days after that operation, some military officers, engaged to provide security services for Mensin Gold Bibiani Limited, a mining company, went to the Bibiani District Office of FSD on June 6, 2024, to threaten the staff.
The military men, who were in a military vehicle, entered the premises of the district office, shouting the names of the district and assistant district managers, and threatened to harm them, saying, “We will deal with you.”
A Toyota Tundra vehicle, which was believed to be accompanying the military men and occupied by some unknown men, including ex-WO Daniel Antwi, was parked just outside, close to the entrance of the FSD office.
The statement said that shortly after they arrived, the military men left the premises, due to the large number of people who had gathered there to collect seedlings for the Green Ghana Day event.
