– 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
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.
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.
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.
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