3 Illegal miners arrested on Birim River

A combined team of the police and a task force of the Kade Municipal Assembly last Saturday arrested three people for polluting the Birim River at Akyem Abaam, near Kade, in the Eastern Region.

The three, all Chinese, and their Ghanaian accomplices were illegally mining gold in the Birim River when the team pounced on them and apprehended them.

The locals, however, managed to escape  arrest  through the bushes.

The High Court in Koforidua has since granted bail to the three, and asked them to reappear before the court on September 2, 2025.

Briefing the media at Kade last Sunday, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of the Kwaebibirem Municipal Assembly, Emmanuel Kofi Nti, said he was at church service at Kade last Saturday when the Kade District Police Commander, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Bernard Barlekor, hinted to him that he had information that illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, was going on in the Birim River at Abaam.

He said he left the church service and joined the Kade police to mount an operation at Abaam, where they came across the illegal miners busily carrying out galamsey in the Birim River.

Mr Nti stated that on seeing the police, the illegal miners took to their heels but the team managed to arrest the three Chinese.

He said two excavators being used by the galamsey operators were seized and deposited on the premises of the Kwaebibirem Municipal Assembly to be used as evidence to prosecute the illegal miners.

Mr Nti said National Security officials in the Eastern Region were conducting further investigations on the activities of the suspects in relation to their activities in the illegal mining space.

The MCE cautioned  people hiding in the hinterland of the municipality to carry out illegal mining to advise themselves or face the law.