{"id":378714,"date":"2017-11-29T15:49:45","date_gmt":"2017-11-29T15:49:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=378714"},"modified":"2017-11-29T15:49:45","modified_gmt":"2017-11-29T15:49:45","slug":"target-kingpins-in-galamsey-not-just-labourers-govt-advised","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/11\/target-kingpins-in-galamsey-not-just-labourers-govt-advised\/","title":{"rendered":"Target kingpins in galamsey; not just labourers &#8211; Gov&#8217;t advised"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The government has been urged to target the brains behind illegal mining operations in Ghana and not just the ground operatives with little value.<\/p>\n<p>The ground operatives arrested by police are ultimately easily replaced by the persons financing the illegal mining operations, a security analyst, Emmanuel Sowatey, has explained to <strong>Citi News<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>[contextly_sidebar id=&#8221;SVUyki1JjSFbI3jaSoCTjJV7d98bO7ux&#8221;]Speaking to<strong> Citi News<\/strong> following the Afro barometer round 7 survey results released by the Center for Democratic Development (CDD) Ghana, Mr. Sowatey said there must be a concerted effort to target key players in illegal mining sector which he likened to drug trafficking.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There are people who live in big houses in Accra who take about 80 percent of the profits. I am drawing my example from drug trafficking in particular. There are barons, there are organizers. There are crew heads.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In the fight against galamsey, most of those who are arrested are the corporals and the privates. The big guys who are benefiting and who are well connected are sitting and singing and those who are being arrested are those who are suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think that as a state, we need to connect those who benefit big time, those who are up there taking a lot of the profit, and make sure that when we arrest those on the ground, we are able to tie the labourers to the oga [boss],\u201d\u00a0Mr. Sowatey stated.<\/p>\n<p>A police and the military joint task force under Operation Vanguard was deployed to three regions considered the most affected by the illegal mining, and <span style=\"color: #666699;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/09\/29\/operation-vanguard-task-force-arrests-362-illegal-miners\/\">close to 400 arrests<\/a><\/strong><\/span> have been made.<\/p>\n<p>These arrests are in addition to those carried out by regular law enforcement agencies nationwide.<\/p>\n<p>But most of these arrests are noted to be of laborers working on the illegal mining sites, as Mr. Sowatey indicated.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Aisha Huang arrest<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The most high-profile illegal mining arrest involved a Chinese national, Aisha Huang, who is suspected to be a kingpin in illegal mining in the Ashanti Region.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_378736\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-378736\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-378736 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Aisha-Huang-at-court-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"391\" srcset=\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Aisha-Huang-at-court-1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Aisha-Huang-at-court-1-300x196.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-378736\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aisha Huang is currently on bail<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It is reported that, she receives backing from some high-profile state officers, including top security personnel.<\/p>\n<p>She is also said to have granted sexual favours to some of the top officials, and continues to enjoy their support due to threats of blackmail if they attempt to expose her.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>By: Delali Adogla-Bessa\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The government has been urged to target the brains behind illegal mining operations in Ghana and not just the ground operatives with little value. The ground operatives arrested by police are ultimately easily replaced by the persons financing the illegal mining operations, a security analyst, Emmanuel Sowatey, has explained to Citi News. [contextly_sidebar id=&#8221;SVUyki1JjSFbI3jaSoCTjJV7d98bO7ux&#8221;]Speaking to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,11],"tags":[7196,3,506],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Target kingpins in galamsey; not just labourers - Gov&#039;t advised - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. 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