The Ashanti Regional Security Council has launched a 24-hour joint operation with the Forestry Commission to combat illegal mining in forest reserves across the region.
The task force against illegal mining is being led by the acting Ashanti Regional Security Coordinator, Captain (Retired) John Kwame Jabari.
A member of the Forestry Commission is currently battling for his life after he was attacked by armed illegal miners on Sunday, March 23, 2025.
Addressing the issue on Monday, March 24, 2025, Captain Jabari stated that there was the need for intensified security efforts aimed at dealing with the illegal mining activities.
He disclosed that the media, alongside the Forestry Commission, would be taken to forest reserves to witness firsthand the reclaimed lands.
The initiative, he said, will help prove to the media and the Ghanaian public the efforts being deployed by authorities in dealing with the menace.
“We have realised that some of them started mining in the evening; during the daytime, they pack their machines. In the night, they go and operate, so we are also going to operate a 24-hour exercise so that we will also tackle them in the night.
“We will have a task force that will tackle them during the day and a team that will tackle them during the night, so it is not something that we are sitting down on.”
“I must also stress that within the next week, we are going to invite the media with the Forestry Commission and go around the forest reserves with the media to show them the forest reserves that we have reclaimed so that it will be vivid evidence and not a social media war,” he added.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
