By Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
33 persons who are believed to be part of a group that vandalised properties belonging to the Golden Star Wassa Mine at Benso in the Western Region last week have been arrested.
The group, which is alleged to be illegal miners, is reported to have, among other things, set 12 vehicles ablaze, including excavators, ambulances, and pick-ups, forcing the staff of the company to run for their lives.
The Head of Group Corporate Affairs of the company, Mr. Gerard Hillary Osei Boakye, narrated how the company was attacked earlier in an interview with the media.
He explained that some staff of the mining firm usually patrol around the enclave to protect its concession, which is required of us by law to be responsible for our boundaries and also prevent incursions to make sure that community members, hunters, and farms are safe.
“On one such occasion, which was Thursday, March 16, 2023, the patrol team encountered some illegal miners encroaching; we engaged them as part of our modus operandi and told them to move away,” Mr. Osei Boakye hinted.
He further explained, “we saw that the alleged illegal miners were interested in that area, so they came back, and when they came back, we tried to ward them off with the help of the police.
They dispersed again, and apparently unconfirmed report reaching us indicates that they may have been injured in the cause of being dispersed. That probably infuriated them, and they came back to torch our vehicles, run our security post down, destroy our offices, basically burn things down.”
