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At least 23 people arrested by some armed soldiers for trespassing on a mining concession belonging to AngloGold Ashanti at Obuasi in Ashanti Region have been remanded in police custody, MyNewsGH.com reports
The 23 people were remanded for two weeks.
It would be recalled that this website reported, that some military men in a viral video maltreated some illegal miners in Obuasi a mining community in the Ashanti Region.
In the said video, a group of young men were made to lie in dirty, muddy water as the military brandished weapons.
It is unclear what the operation is and who authorized this but sources revealed that it occurred on Friday, July 15, 2022, at one of the sites belonging to Anglogold Ashanti.
The miners were reported to have sneaked into a concession belonging to AngloGold Ashanti when they were finally arrested.
However, the President of Obuasi Youths speaking on Oyerepa FM in an interview revealed that the youths numbering 23 have been remanded for two weeks.
“On that very day of their arrest, they were arraigned before court and they have been remanded for two weeks so they are in police custody. There were 23 individuals”. Mr Emmanuel Kofi Ayamga President of Obuasi youth revealed
The youths also demand that, the said land is abandoned by the mining company hence they should be given the opportunity to engage in small scale mining to feed themselves and their families.
“We have not asked them to hand over their underground concession to us. What we ask is they should release the abandoned areas to us. The company has worked for over a hundred years and it is not possible they are still working on all their concessions”, Mr. Kofi Ayamga requested.
He accused the mining companies in the area of not recruiting locals into the companies in order to create jobs for the teeming unemployed youth.
“There were about 2,000 mining workers in Obuasi but today they have sacked all of them leaving only a few people. Even with this number, not all of them are locals” he noted describing the act as wickedness
Meanwhile, the Concerned Small Scale Miners Association has called on the government as a matter of urgency to investigate and intervene in the alleged brutality.
