Eight illegal miners arrested for destroying Konkoma Basic School land

National Security operatives in the Ashanti Region have arrested eight illegal miners at Konkoma in the Bosomtwe District, where extensive damage has been caused to land earmarked for a school park.

The arrests come amid mounting concern over illegal mining activities that have turned the area into a dangerous and degraded zone.

The miners, in their pursuit of gold, have dug perilously close to the Konkoma D/A Basic School and the community’s health centre, leaving behind deep pits and unstable ground that now threaten the safety of schoolchildren and patients alike. The excavation site lies less than 100 meters from the two vital public facilities.

According to school officials, the destruction poses an immediate safety hazard to pupils, while the stagnant water collected in the abandoned pits has become breeding grounds for mosquitoes, worsening health conditions for residents and patients at the nearby facility.

Although the Bosomtwe District Assembly has launched a reclamation exercise to restore the damaged land, national security personnel are determined to identify and apprehend those financing and organizing the illegal operation.

Ashanti Regional Security Coordinator, Captain (Rtd) John Kwame Jabari, confirmed that progress is being made in the ongoing probe. “Officials are making progress with the interrogation,” he said, adding that the focus is now on tracing the individuals who spearheaded and profited from the illegal mining activity.

Security agencies say the investigation will continue until the masterminds are brought to justice and the affected land is fully rehabilitated.