Special Anti-Galamsey Task Force impounds two excavators at Dwendwenase Forest Reserve

The Special Anti-Galamsey Task Force has seized two excavators during an operation at the Dwendwenase Forest Reserve in the Ashanti Region.

The Task Force, based in Manso Adubia, led by Assistant Superintendent of Police, Bawah Abdul Jalil, undertook the operation after intelligence suggested that some Chinese nationals had invaded the Forest Reserve and engaging in illegal mining

“A team of 37 personnel, onboard six service vehicles, proceeded to Dwendwenase, a suburb of Juaso, the capital of the Asante Akim South Municipality,” a police statement said on Sunday.

The team tactically entered the targeted area but on seeing the presence of the task force, the suspects fled the scene, abandoning the two excavators.

Efforts were made to start and relocate the excavators. However, one of them was found to be faulty and could not be started or moved.

The other excavator was successfully loaded onto a low-bed carrier, the statement said.

As the team began moving back to base with the recovered excavator, additional intelligence was received about a nearby village called Atta Ne Atta, close to Dwendwenase, where an excavator operator had hidden another machine in a cocoa farm, it said.

The team proceeded to the location and impounded the excavator, however, it noted that the operator had disconnected some components, making it difficult to start or move.

“With the expertise of the task force’s technical team, the excavator was successfully started and subsequently loaded onto the low-bed carrier,” the statement said.

Both excavators were then transported to the base at Patase for safekeeping and further action.

Source: GNA