The National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS), in collaboration with the Ghana Army and the Forestry Commission, has dismantled several illegal mining sites in the Atwima Mponua Forest Reserve, seizing equipment and destroying makeshift camps.
The dawn operation, conducted on Wednesday, September 17, 2025, at Anhwiafutu in the Nkawie Forest District of the Offin Shelter Belt, followed weeks of intelligence gathering.
The task force found clear evidence of widespread galamsey activity, including excavator tracks, though many of the machines had been moved out before the raid. Some operators fled on sighting the officers.
Nine excavators concealed in the forest were immobilised, while two Toyota Hilux pickups and one Nissan pickup were confiscated. Five Chanfang machines, fuel dumps, old excavator engines, seven water pumps, and other items were set ablaze.
The operation also extended to a residential property believed to have housed 12 Chinese nationals. Though the occupants escaped, officers recovered 18 excavator batteries, 31 buckets of grease, seven gas cylinders, an excavator radiator, and a mini car-washing machine.
NAIMOS said the immobilised excavators could not be moved out due to logistical challenges. Officials stressed that the exercise reflects the government’s renewed commitment to protecting forest reserves from illegal mining and the armed groups that guard such operations.
