Police arrest assemblyman, 3 others in galamsey raid

The police have arrested four persons, including an assemblyman, for allegedly leading community members to prevent the police from impounding an excavator being used for galamsey at Bonteso in the Amansie South District in the Ashanti Region.

The incident happened last Wednesday when members of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Special Task Force on Galamsay defied attempts by some inhabitants to resist the seizure of excavators.

In the process, four culprits --- Osei Vasco, Patrick Asare (the assemblyman), Alexander Owusu and Akwesi Amponsah — were arrested.

At the time of filing this report, all four suspects were being transferred to Accra.

Injuries

During the hostilities, two policemen suffered injuries, one on the upper lip and the other on the leg.

Despite the fierce resistance from the mob, the police succeeded in impounding one of the two excavators in question.

The police disclosed that some members of the community began throwing stones and other objects at the taskforce in an effort to prevent them from taking away the earth moving equipment.

In the course of the confrontation, they said two persons fired guns from the crowd to scare the taskforce and prevent them from doing their work. 

Warning shots

The police said that action prompted the taskforce to fire warning shots to disperse the crowd and towed away the impounded excavator.

The police said they had to be professional to contain the situation and avoid any casualty.

They said the galamsey site was completely degraded due to the illegality.

“We came and met two excavators on the site and upon seeing us one excavator driver started running away while the other one was still working and we arrested him.

“While we were about to move him, two men came forward to say they were the owners of the excavators.

All of a sudden the community started mobilising to attack, and some even started throwing stones at the police,” one officer said.