A Forestry Commission officer has been hacked with a machete after illegal miners in the Offin Shelterbelt Forest Reserve in the Ashanti Region attacked him.
The Forestry Commission’s Rapid Response team suffered an ambush at the hands of miners in the area.
The illegal miners were armed with machetes and assault rifles.
The Forestry Commission officer sustained a deep machete wound to his knee during an ambush by the miners.
The incident occurred when the team entered the reserve to halt fresh illegal mining activities.
Prior to their entry, they had captured footage of some of the armed individuals manning a barrier at the forest’s entrance.
However, upon venturing deeper into the reserve, they discovered that a group of the miners had laid an ambush in the bush.
The yet-to-be-identified victim is currently receiving medical treatment at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi.
The Offin Shelterbelt Forest Reserve has been a hotspot for illegal mining, which continues to pose a severe threat to the country’s forest reserves and water bodies.
The Forestry Commission, in collaboration with security agencies, has been leading operations to curb the destruction of these protected areas.
In a similar instance in the past, a government advisory team on a fact-finding mission to assess the impact of illegal mining commonly known as galamsey faced stiff resistance in parts of the Western and Central regions.
According to reports minutes after a raid in Dunkwa, the team was confronted on the road by an irate NDC Constituency Chairman who said he was not consulted before the operation.
The NDC officials mobilised some illegal miners to confront the team sparking angry reactions in Dunkwa to confront the government advisory team.
he NDC official together with the protesters who were illegal miners along the Offin River blocked roads causing a standoff between the protesters and the heavily armed security personnel accompanying the team.
The government advisory team which includes Rear Admiral (Rtd) Moses Beick-Baffour, remained determined in its mission to update government policy on illegal mining and strengthen future enforcement actions despite the hostility.
The latest resistance highlights the deep-rooted political influence surrounding galamsey activities in Ghana making the fight against galamsey challenging.
