Thirteen suspected illegal miners have been remanded into police custody by the Enchi District Magistrate Court for allegedly operating in the Boi Tano Forest Reserve in the Western North Region.
The suspects, aged between 17 and 29, are to remain in custody for seven days. The presiding Magistrate, Mr Lawrence Buanor-Buer, however, noted that his court was not adequately equipped to handle such cases and directed the police to transfer the matter to a higher court with the appropriate jurisdiction.
Earlier, the Enchi District Manager of the Forest Services Division, Mr Joe Appiah Frimpong, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the Enchi Forest District has eight forest reserves, including the Jema Asemkrom and Boi Tano reserves, located around the Elubo area near Samreboi.
He explained that intelligence reports indicated that illegal miners had set up camps within the forest reserves. Acting on this information, four task force teams, coordinated by the Western North Regional Forest Services Division and the Enchi Forest District, carried out an intelligence-led operation on Tuesday, January 20, 2026, between 1:00 a.m. and 6:30 a.m., to flush out the miners.
The operation led to the arrest of thirteen suspects, namely Philip Kanza, Biney Benedict, Francis Achiah, Joshua Asare, Emmanuel Amankwa, Martin Kwame, Latif Amadu, Kwabena Mensah, Albert Mensah, Karim Mahama, Adoko Hayford, Ezekiel Ajuusine and Kwasi Desmond.
Mr Frimpong said the task force also destroyed five water pumping machines and four makeshift structures at the site, and seized two additional pumping machines, ten mobile phones and four shovels during the raid.
GNA
