Ghana arrests Chinese over 'illegal mining'

[EC]

Via al Jazeera: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2013/06/201367934304981.html

Police in Ghana have arrested 161 Chinese citizens over allegations of illegal mining, immigration and Chinese embassy officials have said.

"The Ghanaians have claimed that those Chinese are engaged in illegal mining," Yu Jie told the AFP news agency in the capital Accra on Wednesday.

A spokesman for Ghana's immigration service said that all those arrested would be deported to China.

He said the miners were arrested between Saturday and Wednesday.

Their number brings to 181 the total figure of Chinese that the country's immigration office has detained within the past month in this African nation.

Isaac Kojo Abraham, Senior Public Relations Officer at the Ghana Minerals Commission, said on Thursday that "all such people doing illegal mining in Ghana without the requisite documentation will be flushed out".

It was unclear if they would be charged in court in Ghana, Africa's second largest producer of gold, before being deported.

Crackdown

The arrests took place across the country, including in the central Ashanti region, long known for its rich gold veins.

President John Dramani Mahama last month inaugurated a task force to clamp down on illegal miners.

Known as galamsey, illegal mining is blamed for exacerbating land conflicts, causing runoff that pollutes water supplies and putting miners at risk of injury.

More at link.