Galamsey fight: Operation Halt team burns 18 changfans on Birim river

On Thursday, October 10, 2024, a combined squad sent by the government to combat the threat forced some illegal miners in the Atiwa East and West Districts to flee.

Under the key name Operation Halt 2, the team started clearing out illegal miners who were destroying the water quality in the Birim basin.

Following word of the team’s arrival, a number of unlicensed miners working in the Birim basin vanished, taking their equipment with them.

Rivers and other bodies of water would be the main target of Operation Halt 2, according to Joint Taskforce Commanding Officer Colonel Eric Tenadu, who made this announcement to the media.

“For this phase, our instruction is to ensure we chase out every miner whether legal or illegal operating in our water bodies,” he stated.

The phase is expected to last for two weeks and will see the taskforce storming all water bodies to ensure miners operating there are chased out.

“We have two weeks to carry out this instruction and our mandate is to chase out every miner operating in our water bodies,” he added.

The government is under increasing pressure from a number of groups to take immediate action to address the contamination of water bodies resulting from the actions of illegal miners.

The University Teachers Association of Ghana decided to start an industrial action to pressure the government to take action, even though organized labour called off its strike following a meeting on Wednesday.

The government launched Operation Halt 2 to purge illegal miners from forest reserves and water bodies in response to demands from organized labor and other groups.

Targeting both legitimate and illicit miners working on water bodies, the crew began operations in the early hours of Thursday in the Atiwa East and West Districts.

Some tents, generator sets, and other equipment utilized by the local miners were also destroyed as a result of the operation.