Police seize two excavators in illegal mining raid at Dwendwenase
By DL News
Published
1 min read
The 37-member team, led by ASP Bawah Abdul Jalil, stormed the reserve and confirmed that illegal mining activities were ongoing.
A special police task force has intensified the nationwide crackdown on illegal mining, seizing two excavators during a raid at the Dwendwenase Forest Reserve in the Asante South Municipality of the Ashanti Region.
The 37-member team, led by ASP Bawah Abdul Jalil, stormed the reserve and confirmed that illegal mining activities were ongoing. Upon sighting the police, the operators abandoned their equipment and fled into the forest.
The officers attempted to retrieve two excavators left behind. One was faulty and could not be moved, while the second was successfully loaded onto a low-bed carrier for transport.
While returning to base, the task force received intelligence about another machine concealed on a cocoa farm at Atta Ne Atta, a nearby village. The operator had deliberately disconnected parts of the excavator to prevent its removal. However, the police technical team managed to restart it, and the machine was also impounded and transported.
Both excavators are now secured at the police base in Patase as investigations and further legal processes continue.
The operation forms part of the Inspector General of Police’s sustained effort to clamp down on galamsey operations that are devastating Ghana’s forests and cocoa-growing areas.
