Ghana

3 Illegal miners slapped with 15 years jail sentence and fined GH¢240,000 each

Thursday, June 10, 2021 at 12:39 PM by Priscilla Aklorbortu 2 min read

- 3 illegal miners have been each sentenced to 15 years imprisonment

- They have each been also fined GH¢240,000 for undertaking small-scale mining operations without a license

- They were charged on counts of mining without license and conspiracy to commit crime

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Three illegal miners have been each sentenced to 15 years imprisonment and also fined GH¢240,000 each for undertaking small-scale mining operations without a license.

The three, Joseph Donkor, 40, Joseph Paul, 27, and Charles Ewusi, 27, were jailed on two counts of mining without license and conspiracy to commit crime.

According to a Graphiconline report, the convicts are a farmer and two unemployed young men, all residents at Alabankata, near Cape Three Points, in the Ahanta West District in the Western Region.

3 Illegal miners slapped with 15 years jail sentence and fined GH¢240,000 each Photo credit: Graphic.com.gh
Source: UGC

They were caught in the act of illegally mining for gold in a forest reserve on February 16, 2021 during an operation by a team from the Regional Forestry Commission.

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The court said their failure to pay the fine would result in each of them serving additional two weeks to serve as a deterrent to other like-minded people engaged in illegal mining activities.

In passing the judgment at the Circuit Court B, the presiding judge, Mrs Abigail Animah Asare, reminded other like-minded persons that the mining act had been reviewed and the punishments were very punitive.

She said the three were handed the least punishment under the act owing to the fact they were first time offenders.

In other news, nine miners that were trapped in a pit at the Gbane mining area in the Upper East Region have died.

The bodies were retrieved two days after the pit caved in on them while they were mining.

According to a report filed by CitiNews, the police stated that the deceased miners, unfortunately, got trapped in a pit at the Moabok mining site following a downpour on the night of Monday, May 31, 2021.