The operation halt II has undertaken a confirmatory operation and arrested six Chinese nationals who were allegedly mining in two forest reserves – Apraprama and Oda – in the Amansie Central District of the Ashanti region.
The soldiers impounded a number of excavators and set ablaze pumps and other machines being used by the Chinese in their nefarious activities.
Addressing the media, Lt Col Louis Boakye, Deputy Commander of Operation Halt II, explained that his outfit embarked on patrols to check whether there were illegal miners within the Reserve and the kind of gadgets they are using.
“We intercepted seven excavators when we went to the forest reserve, so we are making efforts to tow them back to the headquarters for appropriate action to be taken on them”, he revealed to the media.
Asked about the state of the forest reserves, Lt. Col Boakye responded, “The state of the forest is very devastating – it has been decimated – so many places are now inaccessible and a lot of pits here and there, which are a threat to the locals who are farmers within the general area. It also poses danger to the security personnel who will be patrolling the forest reserve.”
He was, however, hopeful that those involved in the destruction would be brought to book and asked to restore the forest to its original state.
The Deputy Commander of Operation Halt II appealed to the public to help prevent any mining activity from taking place in the forest reserves.
On the fate of the arrested Chinese nationals, Lt. Col Louis Boakye told the media that: “we have done our arrest and handed them over to the appropriate authorities.”
He promised that the Central Command would continue to assist the Bekwai Forest Service Division, which supervises the two forest reserves, to ensure its safety.
“For Central Command, we fight to win and we will never give up so long as we are given the task, we shall continue to ensure that we execute it to the best of our ability to ensure that the area is safe and activities of illegal mining in the Central Command is brought to the barest minimum,” he said.
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