Police arrest 9 suspects, 3 excavators retrieved in anti-galamsey operation

Three Chinese nationals and six Ghanaians make up the accused, the police say in a statement.

According to a statement from the police, nine further individuals have been detained in another anti-galamsey operation in the Western Region.

In the course of the operation in the early hours of today, Friday, September 9, 2022, the police also recovered three excavators and three pump action rifles.

The arrest was made in the early hours of September 9, 2022, according to a post on the Service’s social media account.

Six Ghanaians and three Chinese nationals are reportedly among the suspects.

Another development involves the arrest of five Chinese nationals in Ellembelle, Western Region, in relation to the aforementioned missing excavators

The yet-to-be-named suspects were rounded up “in a special police operation conducted between the night of 7 September till the dawn of 8 September 2022,” a terse police statement posted on Facebook said.

Meanwhile, the District Chief Executive (DCE) of Ellembelle in the Western Region, Kwasi Bonzoh, who was detained by the police for alleged obstruction over the controversial missing excavators, has been granted bail.

He has been charged with assault, conspiracy to assault, resisting arrest and two others.
Bonzo had earlier claimed that police in the area failed to protect the excavators seized from some illegal miners in the area, hence the earth-moving equipment could not be found.

Police in the area rejected the DCE’s claim and started investigating him. One of the missing excavators was subsequently found on Tuesday.