Concerned Small Scale Miners have revealed that ounces of gold seized by the galamsey task force between 2018 and 2019 have also gone missing.
This comes on the back of the arrest of some individuals believed to be connected to the alleged missing excavators seized from illegal miners as part of efforts to clamp down on the menace.
Presidents of the Concerned Small Scale Miners Micheal Kojo Peprah in an interview with Citi FM said the situation warrants further investigation.
According to him, it looks like the fight launched to solve the galamsey issue was just to enrich some people in the country.
“You’ve seized people’s excavators and those excavators can’t be found, they have seized people’s gold and those gold can’t be found, peoples pickup we can’t find them and at the end of the day, we are back to the same problem. If you were able to seize over 500 excavators and imagine the ounces of gold that will be seized alongside because all those excavators were used in mining…….and no one has come out to say we have apprehended these people in galamsey and this is the exhibit or the gold that we found so it means this fight against galamsey people were using it to enrich themselves, and now that we have brought the military and we have failed what is next?.”
We will get to the bottom of missing excavators saga – Police CID
The Police CID has assured that they will get to the bottom of the missing excavators’ saga after arresting six persons including suspended Central Regional Vice-Chair, Ekow Ewusi.
This comes after the Police Service issued a statement announcing the arrest of six (6) persons for their involvement in the missing excavators and other equipment seized by operatives of Operation Vanguard yesterday February 4, 2020.
Speaking on Starr FM today, PRO of the CID Juliana Obeng said: Investigations has started and CID will get to the end of this matter. Again, the missing excavators will be found and persons in connection with it will be dealt with by the law”.
The suspects have since been cautioned and are in police custody pending further investigations.
The six persons arrested so far are; Horace Ekow Ewusi, Frederick Ewusi, Joel Asamoah, Adnan Haruna, Frank Gyan, and John Arhin.
However, on Monday, February 3, 2020, the CID picked up Mr. Ekow Ewusi, who is one of the leaders of Operation Vanguard, for interrogation over his role in the missing excavators and other equipment seized from illegal miners.
Source: primenewsghana.com