By: Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
Members of a new anti-galamsey Military Task Force code-named “Operation Halt II” have seized five excavators and burnt six pumping machines and other mining equipment belonging to some illegal miners operating in the Bosomtwe Range Forest Reserve in the Bekwai Forest District of the Ashanti Region.
The equipment was impounded and burnt in a four-day operation carried out by the military task force.
According to sources, members of Operation Halt II were deployed to the area four days ago to fight illegal miners known in Ghana as Galamsey in forest reserves and also to permanently patrol the region to halt illegal mining activities in those reserves.
Some floating platforms and equipment mounted in various sections of the reserve had been decommissioned and destroyed.
The Bosomtwe Range Forest has been attractive to illegal miners in recent times.
Despite the swift intervention of Operation Halt II, which acted on a tip-off, the illegal miners, with the help of the five excavators, destroyed part of the forest reserve in less than three weeks after gaining access to the reserve.
Speaking in an interview, the Deputy Command Operations Officer of the Central Command of the Ghana Armed Forces, Flt. Col Louis Boakye expressed worry at how the reserve has become a target for galamsey operators.
Flt. Col. Boakye warned that his team would be ruthless in weeding out recalcitrant illegal miners in the area.
“We want to remind everyone about the government’s uncompromising and unshakable stance against galamsey operators. Those who are stubborn and will not heed any warnings should be prepared because we will keep coming at them,” he cautioned.
The Deputy Command Operations Officer of the Central Command of the Ghana Armed Forces said the current operation would remain in force until all waterways, forest reserves are without illegal miners.
In the last three years, the Bosomtwe forest reserve has survived five illegal mining attacks as Forestry Commission staff on several occasions thwarted efforts of galamsey operators who are bent on mining in the reserve.
The galamsey operators have caused several destructions to portions of the forest reserve.
