Upper West: Five Burkinabes jailed 20 years each for galamsey

The Wa Circuit Court has sentenced five Burkina Faso nationals to 20 years in prison each for engaging in illegal mining in the Wa West district of the Upper West region.

The convicts were arrested on March 23 at an illegal mining site in Maase, Wa West district, after policemen on patrol received information about ongoing mining activities in the area.

The accused admitted in their caution statements to mining without a licence, stating that they had previously been engaged in Burkina Faso but crossed the Black Volta River into Ghana due to drought.

The conviction sends a clear message to individuals involved in such activities, as the minimum sentence for foreigners found guilty of illegal mining in Ghana is 20 years.

And they were actually mining close to the bank of the river, somewhere even mining inside the river

In the mining act, the minimum you can give any foreigner doing illegal mining in Ghana is 20 years

He emphasised that the court’s decision is a strong warning to those who engage in illegal mining activities.