Five Chinese arrested for galamsey

Five Chinese, including a woman, have been arrested for their alleged involvement in illegal mining at Bepotenteng in the Amansie Central District in the Ashanti Region. The woman, believed to be the mastermind of mining activities in the town, has been identified as Aisha Huang.

The names of her four accomplices have been given as Gao Jin Chec, 45; Lu Qi Jun, 39; Haibin Gao, 26, and Zhang Zhi Peng, 23.

The four were arrested by the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) in a makeshift wooden structures at a mining site at Bepotenteng at 7 p.m. last Friday.

According to sources, Aisha turned herself in around 10 p.m. last Saturday when she got wind that Immigration officers were seeking to arrest her for failing to provide adequate documentation on foreigners who were working with her in Ghana.

As of the time of going to press, the five were being escorted from Kumasi to the GIS Headquarters in Accra for further interrogation.

The sources said Aisha, who is married to a Ghanaian, had a permanent residential working permit which was granted to her on March 28, 2015.

Further reports suggested that even after the arrest of the five, some other Chinese, with the support of some Ghanaians, were busily mining in the area which belonged to Volta Resources Company Limited, in violation of the temporary ban imposed by the government on such mining activities.

Immigration

Briefing the Daily Graphic after the arrest, the Obuasi Municipal Commander of the GIS, Mr Isaac Morgan, said the GIS had intelligence that some Chinese were still engaged in illegal mining even after the deadline by the government for all galamsey operators to stop their activities.

"Some officials who were sent to visit the place and obtain information confirmed that the people were engaged in mining. So the next day, around 7 p.m., they went in to arrest them," he said. 

In August 2016, six children drowned in some galamsey pits at Bepotenteng which were allegedly dug by some Chinese.