The National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAiMOS), through its Manso Adubia taskforce, in a joint operation with the Blue Water Guards, has executed a decisive pre-dawn enforcement raid at Sanfo Adiam in the Amansie East District of the Ashanti Region.

The operation led to the arrest  of two (2) Chinese nationals at the heart of an active galamsey enclave and exposing a deliberate engineering scheme through which the Chinese operators had blocked and diverted sections of the Dankai River into an artificial dam to serve their unlawful extraction.

The NAiMOS operation, conducted between 0400 and 0700 hours on Sunday, 24 May 2026, was prompted by credible intelligence pointing to organised illegal mining activity along the Dankai River corridor at Sanfo Adiam.

The joint team mobilised from the Manso Adubia operational base in the pre-dawn hours, deliberately exploiting the cover of darkness and the element of surprise to close on the active mining points before the operators could complete their disengagement.

Upon closing up onto the site, the NAiMOS operatives observed several individuals actively engaged in illegal mining activities along the course of the river.

A number of Ghanaian operators were sighted at a distance, one of whom was observed wielding a pump action firearm. Several of the illegal miners including the armed individual, fled into the surrounding bushes on sighting the taskforce, exploiting the cover of the terrain to evade apprehension.

Two (2) Chinese nationals present at the site equally took to flight, but were pursued and successfully apprehended by the joint team in a swift counter manoeuvre.

The most shocking feature of the site, however, was the condition of the Dankai River itself.

The operators had blocked and diverted sections of the river into an artificial dam constructed at the location, in order to channel its waters into their mining infrastructure and thereby facilitate the extraction and washing of mineralised material. The deliberate reconfiguration of the natural flow of the Dankai represents a profound assault on the hydrological integrity of the river and on the rights of the downstream communities that depend on its waters for their daily existence.

The presence of a pump action firearm in the hands of one of the fleeing operators further reaffirms the hardening security profile of illegal mining sites within the operational area, and underlines the increasing necessity of sustained tactical readiness on the part of taskforce personnel deployed to such locations.

The arrested Chinese suspects in custody have been identified as Lu Honggeng, aged 53 years, and Nong Zisun, aged 41 years.

Both have since been escorted to the NAIMOS Secretariat in Accra for further investigation and onward handover to the Ghana Immigration Service as required.

The NAiMOS Secretariat wishes to assure the public that the blocking of the River Dankai, its damming, and the disappearance of its natural course into artificial channels which were created by the illegal miners to serve their unlawful trade have all been effectively disrupted. 

NAiMOS would maintain its current sustained operations at the Amansie East enclave and other areas in the coming days l, weeks and months until the River Dankai and others are restored to their original states.

The Secretariat also cautions all illegal miners to desist from such reckless activities which continue to devastate the country’s water bodies and forests.