3 Illegal gold miners arrested in Wa

A 32-year-old Burkina Faso illegal gold miner in the Upper West Region, Hamidu Hammond, sustained some injuries during an arrest by security personnel last Wednesday, and is on admission at the Wa Government Hospital.

Two other members of the gang (names withheld), who were also arrested in the operation, are in police custody assisting with investigation.

Briefing the Daily Graphic in Wa, the Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP ), Mr Francis Aboagye Nyarko, said soldiers of the Operation Vanguard squad based in the region had a tip off that the gang of illegal miners equipped with gold detectors among others were operating in the forest of Dorimon in the Wa West District.

Operation

DCOP Nyarko said in the early hours of Wednesday, personnel of the Operation Vanquard squad swooped on the gang where their activities were said to be ongoing but Hammond, the ring leader of the gang who resisted arrest, sustained injuries in the scuffle that ensued and was on admission at the hospital.

He said two others who were also arrested were assisting in investigations while the remaining seven persons were on the run. He said the gold detectors and digging implements among other equipment that were being used in the operation had been confiscated.

DCOP Nyarko added that the police were, however, conducting an investigation and called on the public to assist them with any information that would lead to the arrest of the remaining gangsters.