More than 80 illegal small-scale miners (galamseyers) have been arrested so far by Operation Vanguard, the anti-galamsey taskforce put together by the government to fight illegal mining across the country.

Public Relations Officer of Operation Vanguard, Major Gariba Pabi told Moro Awudu on Class91.3FM’s Executive Breakfast Show on Monday, 7 August that the arrests were made in the three regions where galamsey is most prevalent – Eastern, Western and Ashanti.

The taskforce is made up of 400 soldiers and police officers.

Meanwhile, one galamseyer was killed by the taskforce at Wawase in the Ashanti Region on Sunday following a gunfight. According to him, the deceased was killed by warning shots fired by the taskforce in response to guns fired at them by the galamseyers.

Major Gariba has, therefore, warned the galamseyers not to resist the work of the taskforce. “I will like to send a word of caution to the people of the Ashanti Region especially the galamseyers that leave the mining sites, carry your items and leave, don’t try to resist us, don’t try to impede our operations, when you do that you’ll be arrested and the law will deal with you,”