NAIMOS Records 237 Arrests in Crackdown on Illegal Mining – Majority Foreign Nationals

The National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) has announced that it has arrested 237 people in its ongoing nationwide operations against galamsey (illegal mining), with the majority being foreign nationals.

Director of Operations at NAIMOS, Col. Dominic Buah, disclosed the figures while speaking at an Editors’ Forum on Wednesday, March 25.

“We have made 237 arrests, the majority of them are foreigners,” he stated.

Col. Buah described the arrests as part of a broader and intensified enforcement drive, revealing that the operations have achieved an impressive 87.7 percent strike rate.

Major Equipment Seizures and Destruction

The task force has also made significant gains in destroying mining equipment used for illegal activities:

• 94 excavators destroyed so far
• Almost 3,000 chanfangs destroyed

In cases where equipment cannot be immediately towed away, operatives remove vital components to render the machines unusable.

“In the field, when we do not have load beds, we remove vital components so that they cannot use the excavator again,” Col. Buah explained.

He noted that these aggressive measures are already producing visible results, with a drastic decline in the use of excavators at galamsey sites.

“At the various galamsey sites, the use of excavators has gone down drastically… those you meet are often immobilised,” he added.

Col. Buah reaffirmed NAIMOS’s determination to sustain pressure on illegal mining activities, which continue to cause severe environmental degradation, pollution of water bodies, and destruction of farmlands across the country.

The latest statistics underscore the government’s intensified efforts to combat galamsey, even as operations occasionally face resistance from illegal miners and their collaborators.

Further updates on arrests, equipment seizures, and the impact of the operations are expected in the coming weeks.