Officials of the Tarkwa Forest District office in the Western region are living in fear after scores of illegal miners attacked their office following a crackdown on illegal miners who besieged the Neung South Forest reserve on Monday.
The mob of illegal miners have since Monday been frequenting the office in a series of protests and threats, preventing the forestry office from operating peacefully.
According to officials, the latest incident occurred on Wednesday at the Tarkwa office when the MCE for Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipality attempted to have a discussion with the District Manager about the issue at the office.
Minutes after he entered, and the discussion was ongoing, some of the people came to the Office premises wielding knives, threatened again to burn our vehicles, and in the process cut the tyres of the personal vehicle of the District Manager with a knife. The MCE stopped them from further destruction and took them away.
A situational report filed by the Forest office indicated that on Monday morning, at about 10:30 am, they received information about an excavator which had entered the Neung South Forest Reserve to carry out illegal mining activities.
One of the District’s Rapid Response Team was dispatched to the area, and the Regional Manager was informed. Upon further deliberations, a backup team was dispatched to immobilise the machine.
Following the exercise, a group of people led by one Ruben Agbokah, a woman who was identified as the women’s organiser of the NDC among others, besieged the Tarkwa Forest District, drove out staff of the Commission and locked up the office on Monday.
Some staff members were physically assaulted in the process. It took the intervention of the Regional Crime Officer and his men to retrieve the keys from them. They threatened to burn the office and personal vehicles. The office vehicles have since been parked at the police station for safety.
“They came back the next day and have since been coming back to disrupt office activities daily, and as such, no meaningful office duties have been undertaken since Monday, June 2nd, 2025” the Tarkwa Forest Office told JoyNews.
They have targeted the District Manager and one of the Assistant District Managers since they believe the instruction was given by them to immobilise the excavator.
The Neung South and other forest reserves have come under persistent attacks by illegal miners.
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