Nineteen persons have been arrested in Zebilla in the Upper East Region for allegedly engaging in illegal mining and also possessing kilograms of a substance suspected to be Indian hemp.
[contextly_sidebar id=”us2AgWJiWwjTYfiMyFmzV8Vw8tp0nhG8″]The suspects, who were rounded up during a night swoop last Tuesday are also alleged to have engaged in other unlawful activities such as prostitution and stealing.
The 19 suspects are made up of 3 Guineans and 16 Ghanaians.
Speaking to Citi News, the Bawku Divisional Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Lovelace Kaletsi Tefutor disclosed that some chemicals and explosives were retrieved at the crime scene.
According to him, the suspects were destroying the environment by digging “very deep and dangerous holes on the land.”
Their activities, he said were posing a security threat to the residents in the area therefore, “the security committee decided to flush them out.”
The night swoop was also aimed at helping the owners of the land; a Chinese mining company, China Gold to reclaim its land.
“We were able to flush them out and reclaim the land. For now, part of the land has been reclaimed and the people have been flashed out of the area,” said Chief Supt. Tefutor.
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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