The National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS), in collaboration with the Ghana Army and the Forestry Commission, has carried out a major swoop in the Atwima Mponua Forest Reserve, dismantling illegal mining sites and seizing equipment belonging to galamsey operators.
The operation, conducted at Anhwiafutu in the Nkawie Forest District of the Offin Shelter Belt on Wednesday, September 17, 2025, followed weeks of intelligence gathering.
Arriving at dawn, the joint task force found extensive evidence of illegal mining, with excavator tracks across the community indicating that several machines had been moved out of the area shortly before the team’s arrival. Some miners on site fled upon seeing the officers.
The task force destroyed several makeshift structures and immobilised nine excavators concealed within the forest. They also seized two Toyota Hilux pickups and one Nissan pickup.
In addition, the team set ablaze five Chanfang machines, fuel dumps, old excavator engines, seven water pumping machines, and other personal belongings abandoned at the sites.
The operation extended to a residential property believed to have housed 12 Chinese illegal miners. Although the occupants had fled at dawn, a search uncovered 18 excavator batteries, 31 buckets of grease, seven gas cylinders, an excavator radiator, and a mini car-washing machine.
According to NAIMOS, the immobilised excavators could not be transported out of the community due to logistical constraints.
Officials say the swoop underscores the government’s renewed commitment to securing forest reserves from illegal mining and the armed groups that protect them
