Locals in Asamama say contrary to earlier reports that three people died from Thursday’s crossfire between illegal small-scale miners (galamseyers) and the police, they have found as many as 11 bodies following the gun battle.
The police are, however, yet to confirm the number of people who died from the crossfire.
Meanwhile, uneasy calm has returned to the mining community in the Atiwa district of the Eastern Region.
The Eastern Regional Security Council (REGSEC), headed by regional minister, Mavis Ama Frimpong, is set to hold a meeting soon as investigations into the incident begins.
Meanwhile, irate youth of Asamama on Friday morning besieged the home of the queenmother of the area baying for her blood.
Accra100.5FM’s Eastern regional correspondent Kofi Michel told Chief Jerry Forson on the station’s breakfast show on Friday, 18 November that the angry youth were accusing the queenmother of preventing the teeming jobless youth from undertaking mining activities while discriminatorily granting a concession to just one prominent businessman in the area to undertake mining activities.
The queenmother, the businessman and their allies, according to the angry residents, always resort to armed land guards and police officers to suppress other locals from doing any mining activities in the area.
They blame the queenmother’s discriminatory actions for Thursday’s gun battle. More than 20 of the galamseyers were arrested by the police after the crossfire which started as law officers who were part of the anti-galamsey taskforce got intelligence of illegal mining activities taking place at Asamama.
The police were tipped off by residents after huge earthmoving vehicles and excavators surged into the area.
The heavy machines destroyed swathes of cocoa farms and traversed rivers en route to their destination.
As the taskforce swooped in on the illegal miners, they were met with brute gun fire by the galamseyers.
Chief of Staff Julius Debrah has ordered the military to reinforce security in the area.
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
