Three Chinese nationals arrested over Tano River mining
They were still running the machines when security operatives arrived at Oforikrom in the early hours of Thursday, Changfan machines mounted on floating platforms, churning directly in the Tano River under the cover of night. By the time the operation was over, more than 20 of those machines lay destroyed, a pickup truck and a pump-action gun had been seized, and three Chinese nationals were in custody.
The joint operation, carried out between 3:00 AM and 3:30 PM on May 14, 2026, brought together the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) and the Blue Water Guards in a sweeping riverine patrol across multiple communities along the Tano River in the Amenfi West District. What began as a patrol through stretches already cleared of illegal activity ended at Oforikrom, where the miners had not yet gotten the message.
When officers moved in, most of the miners scattered. A search of the area, however, turned up three individuals who had not managed to flee, and who, according to NAIMOS, were not just present at the site but were allegedly overseeing the entire operation.
They were identified as Deng Jun, 37; Deng Bi Hua, 50; and Deng Bi Qiang, 32, all Chinese nationals. The three were first taken to the NAIMOS Secretariat before being handed over to the Enforcement Unit of the Ghana Immigration Service in Accra, where their cases now sit.
The damage investigators found at the site told its own story. The Tano River, a water body that runs through and sustains communities across the region, has been visibly polluted by the mining activities. Farmlands surrounding the site had been torn up and destroyed. Perhaps most strikingly, the illegal operations had measurably reduced the depth of the river itself, a sign of just how long and how intensively the site had been worked.
Beyond the environmental toll, the seizures pointed to an operation that was anything but makeshift. Officers recovered a pump-action gun, twelve cartridges, and a Toyota Hilux pickup truck bearing registration number GS 5288-22, suggesting the site was not only well-resourced but potentially fortified against interference.
More than 20 Changfan machines mounted on floating platforms were dismantled and destroyed on the spot, along with pipelines and other makeshift structures. The scale of the destruction left behind made clear this was not a small, opportunistic operation.
NAIMOS used the operation to issue a direct warning to illegal miners still active along Ghana’s water bodies: the raids will continue, and the consequences, loss of equipment, arrest, and prosecution, are real and escalating.
The Secretariat also pointed to an alternative, urging those engaged in illegal mining to explore the responsible cooperative mining programme introduced by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, framing it as a last off-ramp before enforcement catches up with them.
For the Tano River, already bearing the scars of what was found at Oforikrom, the question is whether Thursday’s operation came in time to prevent permanent damage, or whether it is simply the latest intervention in a fight that has been going on far too long.
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