info@businessghana.com
The National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) has intensified its campaign against illegal mining, recording what the government describes as major successes in two coordinated operations in the Western North and Ashanti Regions on Tuesday, October 21, 2025.
In a Facebook post today, Thursday, October 23, 2025, the Minister in charge of Government Communications, Mr Felix Kwakye Ofosu, said a NAIMOS task force intercepted a group of armed men operating deep within the Tano Anwia Forest Reserve in the Aowin District of the Western North Region.
According to the post, several suspects, including a Chinese national believed to be their excavator operator, were arrested. The task force also seized four pump-action guns, twenty-two cartridges, and three buckets containing a black substance suspected to be a mining material.
“The arrest of the armed group marks an important breakthrough in NAIMOS’s ongoing efforts to curb the growing presence of armed mining syndicates within forest reserves,” Mr Kwakye Ofosu said.
The task force later moved to the Boin River Forest Reserve in the Enchi District, where further surveillance and clearance operations were carried out as part of the anti-mining exercise.
In a related operation in the Ashanti Region, NAIMOS extended its campaign to illegal mining sites in the Asante Akim and Juaso Districts. Acting on intelligence, the task force moved into the Asuboa Mponua area of Asante Akim, where six excavators were discovered at various locations.
Two of the excavators were unserviceable, while the remaining four were immobilised. Other items found on the site, including a heavy-duty water pumping machine, several hoses, empty fuel containers, and a wooden structure, were destroyed. One generator set was also seized.
The team then proceeded to the Praakwa Forest Reserve in the Juaso District, where illegal mining was reportedly taking place along the Pra River. That operation led to the destruction of six mining boats, several washing platforms, and other equipment, all of which were set ablaze.
According to the government’s statement, eight illegal miners were arrested in the Ashanti Region during the coordinated mission.
Mr Kwakye Ofosu said the latest raids demonstrate the government’s renewed resolve and coordination among security and environmental enforcement agencies under NAIMOS.
The ongoing operations form part of a national effort to protect Ghana’s forest reserves and water bodies from the destruction caused by illegal mining.
