42 illegal miners in the general areas of Pankese and Apradan in the Kwaebibirem Municipality in the Eastern Region have been arrested by Operation Vanguard.
The suspects, made up of 29 locals and 16 foreigners –13 Nigeriens, 1 Bissau-Guinean, 1 Togolese and a Malian have been processed and handed over to the police and Immigration Service respectively.
Equipment that were confiscated at the time of their arrest is currently being held in evidence pending the suspects’ prosecution.
The task force seized eight gold detector battery charges, one gold detector plate, one gold dictator stick, one headphone, two pointed hoes, one water pumping machine, two cutlasses, one head pan, eight-cell phone chargers and two metal dictator engines.
In other operations conducted within the past week, four Chinese nationals, three Burkinabe nationals and four locals were arrested in various operations conducted in the Ashanti and Central Regions.
