Gov't will not prosecute foreigners engaged in criminal activities, but will simply deport them - Interior Minister Muntaka

The government has resolved not to waste time and resources prosecuting foreigners arrested for criminal activities in Ghana. Rather, they will be deported, the Minister of the Interior, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka has said.

He said the new policy is part of measures by the government to protect the country’s environment and shield citizens from fraud perpetrated by foreigners operating in Ghana.

Speaking during an engagement with the Ashanti Regional Police Command in Kumasi as part of his working visit to the region last Friday, (April 4 2025), the Interior Minister gave examples of those criminal activities as those engaged in illegal mining, unlawful logging, or cyber fraud. 

According to him, investigations by the security agencies have uncovered criminal networks involving some foreign nationals who operate in Ghana’s forests, engaging in illegal mining, cutting down trees without authorisation, and defrauding people across the world through cybercrime.

“What we found, the kind of activities that were purely destroying citizens around the world, using a system that is set up, that was so sophisticated. Many of them are into our forests. Many of them are cutting our trees unlawfully. Others are involved in galamsey activities. And many, many other crimes,” Mr Muntaka said.

He explained that under the new policy, foreigners arrested for engaging in either illegal mining, known locally as galamsey, or cyber fraud would not face prosecution in Ghana.

“For these two crimes, when we arrest any foreigner, we are not interested in prosecuting him. Our first option is to take them back to their country. And this is something that we are very serious about,” he stated.

Alhaji Muntaka said the police, who are often the first point of contact in such arrests, must work with prosecutors and the Ghana Immigration Service to implement the policy.

He noted that prosecutors within the police service had already written to the Attorney-General to facilitate the enforcement of the directive.

“Please, if it involves these two things, the prosecutors within the police have officially written to the Attorney-General. We are not interested in prosecuting people who are destroying our environment and who are defrauding people across the globe. What we want is that we want to take them back to their country,” Mr Muntaka stressed.

He added that such foreign nationals, once deported, would be placed on Ghana’s stop list to prevent them from re-entering the country.

“And then we put them on the stop list, never to be able to come back to our country,” he said.