The National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) has intensified its nationwide crackdown on illegal mining, resulting in several arrests and equipment seizures across the Western North and Ashanti Regions.
This was announced in a post on X (formerly Twitter) by Minister of Government Communication, Felix Kwakye Ofosu.
According to him, the coordinated operations conducted on Tuesday, October 21, 2025, achieved “significant breakthroughs” in the fight against galamsey.
In the Western North Region, NAIMOS task force operatives stormed the Tano Anwia Forest Reserve in the Aowin District, where they intercepted armed illegal miners, including a Chinese national suspected to be an excavator operator.
A search at the scene uncovered four pump-action guns, twenty-two cartridges, and three buckets containing a black substance believed to be mining residue.
The Minister described the arrests as “a major disruption of armed mining syndicates exploiting protected forest zones.”
Later that day, the task force extended its operation to the Boin River Forest Reserve in Enchi, targeting other illegal miners believed to be connected to cross-border mining activities.
In the Ashanti Region, NAIMOS operatives raided known illegal mining sites at Asuboa Mponua in the Asante Akim District, immobilizing four excavators and destroying two others found at the scene.
Several water pumps, hoses, and makeshift wooden structures used by the miners were also destroyed, while a generator was seized as evidence.
The operation continued at the Praakwa Forest Reserve in the Juaso District, where six mining boats and washing platforms along the Pra River were dismantled. Eight suspects were apprehended.
Mr. Ofosu emphasized that the government remains “fully committed to ending the galamsey menace, restoring degraded forest reserves, and protecting Ghana’s water bodies.”
