NAIMOS SWOOPS ON RESURGENT GALAMSEY ENCLAVE AT GROSO, ARRESTS FIFTEEN ALONG THE OFFIN RIVER

#GalamseyUpdate

The taskforce of the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS), deployed from the Ashanti Region, has executed a decisive enforcement sweep at Groso township along the Offin River, apprehending fifteen (15) suspected illegal miners, destroying an alluvial mining machine deployed directly within the river, and disabling a heavy excavator at the active mining site.

The operation was prompted by credible intelligence indicating that previously dispersed operators had returned to a site along the Offin River and resumed unlawful mining activity. Acting on the information received, the taskforce departed from its base at about 1030 hours and proceeded to the indicated location.

Upon arrival, operatives observed several individuals openly engaged in mining operations along the course of the river. A coordinated advance on the active mining points secured the apprehension of fifteen suspects on site, comprising eleven males and four females, two of whom were established to be foreign nationals, namely one Nigerien and one Togolese. All fifteen suspects were determined to be resident at Nyinawusu, a community whose recurrent association with mining activity along the Offin corridor has now come under sustained operational attention.

The suspects apprehended at the scene include Beauty Siame, aged 32, of Dabala; Hassana Mutaspha, aged 20, of Techiman; Favor Agbemazi, aged 19, of Sokagope; Safia Kunusu, aged 35, a Togolese national; Ibrahim Issah, aged 25; Wahab Afane, aged 26; Gilbert Banongkore, aged 20; Hamza Sullemana, aged 17; Kwabena Dzibolo, aged 16; Francis Kwaku Amuzu, aged 25; Haruna Razak, aged 19; Bashiru Sullemana, aged 19, a Nigerien national; Isaac Aning, aged 21; and Rashid Sallah, aged 21.

A comprehensive sweep of the broader mining site produced further material outcomes. The taskforce seized the monitor and key of a Sany SY 215 excavator, both having been detached from the machine in the now familiar pattern adopted by operators to preserve their most valuable electronic components in anticipation of enforcement contact. One alluvial mining machine deployed within the Offin River itself was systematically destroyed in the course of the operation, imposing a direct and measurable cost on the syndicate and arresting, at least temporarily, the continuous ecological assault on the river at that location. A further four excavators were observed at the broader site, all locked with their keys still in place and with their monitors detached, evidently positioned in concealment by operators who had vacated the area ahead of the taskforce's arrival.

The fifteen suspects, together with their mobile phones, have since been handed over to the Upper Denkyira West District Police Command at Diaso for further investigation and prosecution.

The seized excavator monitor and key remain in the custody of the NAIMOS taskforce, pending the completion of the requisite administrative and seizure processes.

The Groso operation reaffirms a recurring feature of the galamsey threat along the Offin corridor, namely the determination of operators to return to disrupted sites in the wake of taskforce withdrawal, often with the same equipment and the same labour pool drawn from settled accommodation hubs in the surrounding communities.

The Secretariat wishes to assure the public that no resurgent enclave will be permitted to consolidate itself along any stretch of the Offin River or any other water body of national importance, and that taskforce operatives will continue to return, and to return again, until the ecological integrity of the river and the rule of law over the lands through which it flows are decisively restored.

Groso, Upper Denkyira West District, Central Region, 11 May 2026