Illegal mining menace - Criminal investigation or forensic criminal investigation?

The Minerals and Mining Act, 2006, Act 703 and the Minerals and Mining (Amendment) Act 2019, Act 995 and other laws have been promulgated to revise and consolidate the law relating to minerals and mining in the country.

These laws prohibit a person from undertaking a mining operation without a licence. The offences and punishments clearly show that these crimes are serious.

Illegal mining is, thus, a serious organized crime. One of the key things to do now is for the crime to be properly classified. If we classify illegal mining as a serious organized crime, then we can strategise and plan appropriate responses to deal with it effectively and efficiently.

Classification, therefore, of this crime is important because if a crime is serious and organised, it is prudent to organise a serious response.

Effective criminal enforcement

One of the effective ways of dealing with this type of serious organised crime is criminal law enforcement.

Criminal enforcement consists of detection, arrest, investigation, prosecution and adjudication. As a serious organised crime, a multidisciplinary approach and forensic investigation techniques are recommended as some of the tactical methods of enforcement.

The multidisciplinary technique has to be applied in the forensic investigative circle.

Experts from various backgrounds applying a combination of several forensic science disciplines are crucial in illegal mining investigation.

Criminal investigators and investigation managers are to take note that the multidisciplinary approach and forensic investigation management are crucial in illegal mining cases.

There are, currently, several distinct forensic disciplines to assist in this direction.

Multidisciplinary teams

The following experts working in multidisciplinary teams in all cases of illegal mining are recommended: Geologists and assayers; surveyors and valuation officers; cost accountants; soil & crop (including cocoa) scientists; forestry and environmental experts; bankers and the Financial Intelligence Centre and criminal investigators.

Investigative questions

How much land has been used for illegal mining in specific cases?

If a case, for instance, is reported and referred for investigation, working in a multidisciplinary team, can the size of the land be measured?

Can the monetary value of the affected piece of land be determined with or without cocoa and other food crops?

Can criminal investigators working in a multidisciplinary team be able to determine how much of forest and natural resources, including water bodies, have been destroyed, including establishing evidence to prove the nature of the destruction and restoration and its cost?

In every illegal mining case, can evidence be established that a source of water used by a community or Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has been destroyed and a determination made of the value of destruction and the cost of water production which Ghana Water Company will bear as a consequence of the destruction?

Expanding frontiers

Working in a multidisciplinary team, can the volume or weight of a mineral, for instance, mined in a specific criminal case and the income made by the illegal miners and their principals be established as evidence?

Can evidence of money laundering be established if multidisciplinary teams are investigating illegal mining cases in the country?

It is a fact that illegal mining is attractive because of the high returns and the low risks associated with it. How much assets have been acquired by illegal miners and their principals in a specific criminal case which has been thoroughly investigated?

Can this be established as evidence, using the multidisciplinary approach? Without doubt, people are investing money and other resources into this illegal activity, because it is a lucrative ‘business’.

If we are using the multidisciplinary approach we shall be able to put evidence before the courts about minerals recovered, proceeds of crime, assets acquired and the tools of these illegal activities seized in the course of the investigation.

So that when illegal miners are convicted, the courts can be dealing with such seized minerals, proceeds of crime, assets and the tools of the illegal business. As it is now, we are not able to establish these types of evidence to facilitate confiscation of such properties.

It must be pointed out that multidisciplinary teams will be able to bring various expertise to bear on determinations that annually, case by case, region by region and nationally, this total amount of mineral has been illegally mined, this is the total value made by illegal miners and this is the total value Ghana has lost.

What is our case as a State, having all the resources to enforce the criminal law if we simply charge and try people for breaches of the law without any effort to establish the illegal gain these illegal miners are making and taking away on daily basis?

It is suggested that the State puts a lot of hands on deck if we want to be successful in illegal mining investigations.

Seize, burn

It is sad that the State is not able to take the proceeds of illegal mining and the tools of the illegal activity. By the current operational strategy, the illegal miners and their principals have the booty most of the time and the State sometimes burns some of the tools.

Thus, the State effectively loses both the proceeds of the crime, including assets acquired and the tools used in committing the crime. There, certainly, is the need to re-strategise in enforcing the mineral and mining laws in Ghana.

Concluding, the point has to be made that illegal mining is a serious organised crime and so the response to this crime must be well organised if we are to deal effectively and efficiently with this menace.

The writer is a retired Senior Police Officer/CEO, Affirm Consulting Ltd and network member, Global Initiative against Trans-national Organised Crime.