Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul has announced the deployment of the Marine police soon to complement government’s anti-galamsey taskforce-Operation Vanguard in mining areas.
Government set-up the anti-illegal mining task force to flush out illegal miners from mining enclaves countrywide, but their work has been hampered by recalcitrant miners on water bodies who have proven to be terrific in combating, hence the latest measure.
The Defence Minister, said government is bent on ensuring an end to the illegal mining notwithstanding the challenges thereof.
“We have moved the Navy to go and augment the efforts of the Operation Vanguard people who were originally on the ground, so the numbers are more than the 400…the Engineering Regiment of the Army has also moved in to also assist. The Police will also be sending their marine police so that we can curb this illegal mining.” the Defense Minister said Thursday.
The campaign against illegal mining — popularly called galamsey — is spearheaded by the government through Operation Vanguard, which is formed by personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces, other security services and relevant state institutions.
