A Tamale Circuit Court in the Northern Region has convicted 40 ECOWAS nationals on their own plea, for illegal mining.<\/p>\n
The Presiding Judge, His Honour Senyo Amedehe ordered the confistication of their mining equipment and their immediate repatriation after paying the fines.<\/p>\n
In all, 45 of the convicts including Malians, Guineans and some from Burkina Faso were arrested in Bole by officials of the Northern Regional Command of the Ghana Immigration Service.<\/p>\n
At the second court sitting, they were remanded for two weeks and granted bail.<\/p>\n
“Earlier, two of them who were arrested for the same offences but possessed passports were fined GHC 600 each.<\/p>\n
The Presiding Judge on Tuesday September 23, 2014 convicted them on three counts.<\/p>\n
On count one, His Honour Senyo Amedehe charged some of them 40 penalty units for entering Ghana through unapproved routes.<\/p>\n
They will serve 12 months imprisonment in default of payment.<\/p>\n
On count two, the convicts were charged 50 penalty units for travelling without proper documents and in default they will serve 13 months imprisonment.<\/p>\n
On count three, the convicts were charged 55 penalty units for engaging in illegal mining activities in the Bole area and in default, they will serve 14 months imprisonment.<\/p>\n
Assistant Director of Immigration in charge of the Northern Region, Eric Afari after the court sitting in an interview with Citi News warned that his administration will intensify its patrols to flush out ECOWAS nationals in the region who are flouting the country\u2019s laws with impunity.<\/p>\n
Mr. Afari said his officers have mounted 24\/7 surveillance at all the 13 unapproved entry points from neighboring countries into the region.<\/p>\n
He however complained inadequate logistics needed to improve their efficiency.<\/p>\n
Both the Guinean and Malian Chancellors to Ghana attended the court sitting and made frantic efforts to pay the fines to fast track the repatriation exercise.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n
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A Tamale Circuit Court in the Northern Region has convicted 40 ECOWAS nationals on their own plea, for illegal mining. The Presiding Judge, His Honour Senyo Amedehe ordered the confistication of their mining equipment and their immediate repatriation after paying the fines. In all, 45 of the convicts including Malians, Guineans and some from Burkina […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":30762,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[38,17],"yoast_head":"\n