The Operations Director of the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS), Colonel Kwame Sam Appiah, has warned illegal miners to leave rivers and water bodies immediately as the Secretariat intensifies its crackdown in the Western North Region.
According to Rainbow Radio, he gave the warning at a meeting with small-scale miners at Aowin, saying mining in water sources is unlawful whatever documents operators hold. "If you're mining in water bodies and you see us coming, run," he said.
He said NAIMOS has ways to verify valid mining permits and separate legitimate operators from illegal ones, but that no authorisation permits mining in rivers and water bodies.
Adom Online reported that a NAIMOS team, accompanied by journalists, was left stranded on the evening of 29 October 2026 when its vehicle got stuck in the Amowe Forest at Enchi during an exercise to assess illegal mining damage in the Aowin Municipality.
At the stakeholders' meeting, the Paramount Chief of Aowin raised security concerns about an influx of foreign nationals settling in local forests under the pretext of farming and small-scale mining, and urged state authorities to act. He said damage to water bodies had spilled over into Côte d'Ivoire, including the River Bia.
No arrests were reported in connection with the visit.