… DCE, 3 others arrested for obstructing the operation of the police
One of the two missing excavators used for illegal mining activities at Ellembelle in the Western Region has been retrieved, with the District Chief Executive (DCE) for the area, Kwasi Bonzoh, arrested by the Police.
Information gathered by the B&FT reveals that the DCE was arrested yesterday after misunderstanding with the Police upon hearing the excavator had been retrieved. This makes it twice in a week’s period that the Mr. Bonzoh has been arrested, after he was granted bail last week Friday on same issue.
Police Statement
The arrest has been established by the police with the police statement saying: “While a team of police officers were accompanying the excavator to the Police Head Quarters at Sekondi and when they got to the Axim Junction, the DCE led some thugs to attack the police and obstructed their operation”.
The statement said the police, through intelligence operations on Tuesday, September 6, 2022 retrieved one of the excavators that was reported missing from Ellembelle.
The excavator was discovered several kilometers into a forest within the Ellembelle District.
Investigation continues to recover the other excavator and arrest all those behind it to face justice
Background
Mr. Bonzoh received a distress call from the headmaster of the Nkroful Agriculture Senior High School about galamsey activities on-going on a section of the school land.
Conferring, he was then in Accra and instructed a member of the Assembly’s small mining committee and some District Security Council (DISEC) members to seize the excavators.
According to him, the Divisional Police Commander in the area was to informed.
“I told ACP Dodzi Hlordzi that I needed men to protect the excavators while the assembly looked for a payloader to convey the machines to Sekondi. To my surprise, the Divisional Police Commander told me that the police did not have enough men in the area to guard the excavators,” he said.
He mentioned that commander later agreed to release two police men but said the two personnel could only protect the machines up to 6pm on that day.
He pointed out that the two police men left the machines at 6pm when the assembly had still not been able to secure a payloader to convey the machines.
“We could also not get mechanics to immobilise the machines and when we went there the following day, the two escalators were nowhere to be found,” the DCE said.
