The National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) task force has arrested one (1) Chinese illegal miner and seven (7) local workers at the galamsey site, as part of its nationwide operations, recording a major success in an intelligence-led operation at Oseikokrom in the Amansie West District of the Ashanti Region.

According to NAIMOS in a press statement on May 22, 2026, “Upon sensing the approach of the task force, the suspects attempted to flee the site but were intercepted and arrested.

“The vehicles seized at the illegal mining site were two (2) Toyota Hilux pickups with registration numbers GX 555-24 and CN 5168-26.

“Further assessment of the site revealed two (2) excavators actively involved in illegal mining activities at the site,” the statement said.

The task force seized one excavator and conveyed it to the NAIMOS logistics holding area in Kumasi, while the other excavator was immobilised by detaching its monitor and control board.

NAIMOS explained in the statement that the two (2) seized vehicles were also conveyed to the NAIMOS logistics holding area for safekeeping.

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“The task force also seized one (1) pump-action gun at the site. The task force further set ablaze several makeshift structures which served as hideouts for the illegal miners,” it added.

The suspects arrested and currently under investigations include, “Huang WEIYE (Chinese National),38 years, Augustine MANU, 23 years, Kwame NTOADRO, 41 years, Moses ALOU, 30 years, Alex LENLEY, 32 years, Yaw OWUSU, 26 years, Shaibu WUNI - 26 years, Patrick BAMPOA - 22 years”.

The Chinese national has since been conveyed to NAIMOS Headquarters for further investigations and handed over to the Ghana Immigration Service as required.

The Ghanaian suspects have also been handed over to the Antoakrom Police Station to assist with investigations and prosecution.

The Director of Operations for NAIMOS, Colonel Dominic Buah, revealed that the Secretariat’s task forces would continue to intensify such surgical raids in all galamsey hotspots across the country.

The Director further reiterated that the intensified operations and other strategies adopted by NAIMOS are helping to significantly disrupt entrenched illegal mining activities and networks that continue to destroy cocoa farms, forest reserves, and road networks, as well as severely polluting the nation’s water bodies.

Read the statement below



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