Seventy-three persons allegedly involved in illegal mining, have been arrested, in a swoop by the Upper East Regional Security Council (REGSEC), with support from the Ghana Police Service, in Tilly Forest Reserve, at a suburb of Zebilla, in the Bawku West District of the Upper East Region.
The suspects comprise 27 Togolese, two Burkinabes, and 41 Ghanaians.
Five women and three children were among the illegal miners, who were ravaging the Tilly Forest Reserve, a river and a tributary of the Red Volta, in search for gold.
Briefing journalists after the swoop, the Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Donatus Atanga Akamugri, said REGSEC and the police stormed the forest reserve upon a tip-off, and rounded up all the miners at 11 pm last Tuesday.
