Commander of Operation Vanguard, Col William Agyapong is shocked by the 504 illegal miners arrested barely three months into its operations.
He said the taskforce has picked intelligence about illegal mining activities taking place in the Central region, expressing surprise at the number of persons apprehended within a short period.
The joint taskforce (JTF) begun its supervision role in July in the Ashanti, Western and Eastern regions.
They are now set to hit the central region where the activity of illegal mining is gradually gaining momentum.
Col. Agyapong said they are not ruling out any chances of meeting difficult groups in the region; he has also assured resident of the area of no intimidation.
‘‘As I speak today we have apprehended as many as 504 suspects and as you know many have been convicted with some awaiting their prosecution. It’s surprising and amazing that after all the measures and warnings at least we expected them to stop and it’s worrying.
“There are still persons who don’t want the country to get its environment in a better state after two months of this campaign’’ he said
‘‘He further added that ‘‘the intelligence we have picked is that, many of the people who left the Ashanti and western region have found their way to the Central region, but based on the strategic information we have we are ready all out to hit the place. We know that there may be some difficult one but we are prepared for it. We also want to tell the people not to feel intimidated by our presence’’.
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