The National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) has disclosed that in many instances, illegal miners flee mining sites before operatives arrive, as DCEs and Assemblymen share intel with illegal miners before NAIMOS raids.

Paa Kwesi Schandorf, spokesperson for NAIMOS, has attributed the compromise of intelligence to local authorities who allegedly share advance information with the miners ahead of the team’s arrival.

Speaking in an interview with TV3’s Ghana Tonight on February 3, 2026, Schandorf noted that there have been several cases where operations are carried out without any arrests because some politically connected individuals, including District Chief Executives and assembly members, alert the miners about impending raids.

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“Indeed, sometimes even those who are politically connected within these enclaves are able to get wind of the arrival of men in uniform in a particular community and then they blow the alarm. So, we are recording instances where operations are carried out and nobody is arrested because the galamsey operators have fled due to political interference and collaboration from some local people, which has become a major problem,” he said.

To address the situation, the NAIMOS spokesperson indicated that the new strategy is to decentralise the fight to the local level, where local government officials will be held accountable for breaches of intelligence.

For example, if one is a District Chief Executive and, because of that role, is informed that a security operation is heading into an enclave, that information is not supposed to go beyond that office.

The same expectation applies to assembly members and others in local positions who have access to security briefings. According to Schandorf, such information is meant to be protected in the interest of the state, but it appears some individuals are leaking or even selling it.

Schandorf further explained that because some local government authorities are “selling information,” the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources has ordered a thorough response to the issue.

“As a result, the minister has directed that from now until the end of the first quarter, there will be a thorough investigation across affected localities, as that is where the problem is believed to originate. The operations are intelligence-led and usually kept under wraps, but where there is a need to inform a few relevant local authorities, that trust has been compromised.

“The minister has therefore indicated that the ‘cracking of the whip’ will be directed at the local level within this quarter, backed by a comprehensive plan already under consideration,” he added.

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AK/SSM