Hathia Ama Manu, a Tarkwa Circuit Court Judge in Ghana, has sentenced two Nigerians to 20-year imprisonment for engaging in illegal mining, commonly known as ‘galamsey’.
The convicts, Benjamin Obin and Ayodele Jackson, were arrested at Bepoase, near Prestea in the Western Region.
The two men, sentenced on October 7, pleaded guilty to the charges with the explanation that they were unemployed and hungry and had only resorted to the ‘galamsey’ work to survive.
They narrated to the court that they had only been indulging in the act for about three weeks before their arrest. They were thus convicted on their plea.
The Prosecutor, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Juliana Dadzie, told the court that a complaint was made against the accused by two officers of the Minerals Commission.
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According to her, Emmanuel Morrison and Bismark Mansoh, Minerals Commission staff and on a routine patrol in the Prestea area, spotted the accused, with about 15 others engaging in illegal mining activities with two excavators, a washing plant and a water pumping machine at Bepoase.
The miners fled after seeing the two officers, but the officers managed to apprehend the two expatriates.
The court also ordered that the state confiscate the excavator with its control board and the water pumping machine. They will be handed over to the Minerals Commission.
via: Information Nigeria
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