Some residents who live along the beaches in Cape Coast have turned them into block- making factories.
Hundreds of blocks made with sea sand can be seen packed in heaps along the beaches.
The offending communities include Amanful, Amoakofua, Brofoyedur and Ekon.
The situation is fast devastating the beaches in the ancient tourism city.
Some of the residents make the blocks at the beaches to be carted away while others load the sand in sacks for sale. A sack of sand sells for GH¢4.
The booming business is attracting even basic school children.
Police visit
The situation has compelled the Cape Coast Metropolitan Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Mr Samuel Winful, to visit the communities to warn those engaged in the act to stop or face the law.
After visiting the beaches in the company of Nana Kwame Menya, Kyidomhen of the Oguaa Traditional Area, Mr Winful said the police would swoop in on the offenders. He did not indicate when.
When the Commander arrived at the Brofoyedur beach, some young men with shovels were heaping mounds of sea sand to be used for block making.
Some of them plunged into the sea and swam away when they saw the team.
Others the team interacted with claimed that fishing expeditions were becoming unattractive due to dwindling catches at sea.
“We know it is against the law but we don’t have jobs and we can’t starve,” one of them said.
At the Amoakofua beach where the team chanced on a truck being loaded with sea sand, the sand winners abandoned the truck and it was driven to the police station.
Advice
Mr Winful advised the people to stop winning the sand, saying apart from the devastating effects on the environment, it was illegal.
“The next time I come around, many of you may find yourselves behind bars,” he warned.
He told journalists that the fight against sand winning was a tough one and urged all stakeholders to support that effort.
Earlier at a forum organised by Save Our Beaches Ghana, an Environmental non-governmental organisation (NGO), a Senior Programme Officer at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Mr Peter Ackon, called on sand buyers to deal with licensed sand winners.
The Tufuhen of the Oguaa Traditional Area, Nana Kwame Adu VI, said Ghanaians owed it a duty to save the environment for posterity.
Source: Graphic Online