A sweeping security operation across three regions has left more than 300 people in prison custody for the next two weeks, following allegations that some residents assaulted members of the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS), officials from the Environmental Protection Authority, and journalists.
The arrests were on the back of coordinated dawn raids on Wednesday, 12th November 2025, when military and police teams moved into communities in the Ashanti and Ahafo regions, along with a separate operation in Ehi in the Volta Region. Residents from Dadwene and Anwona in the Ashanti Region, together with individuals from Hwidiem, Kenyase, Goaso and Marhani in Ahafo, were rounded up in the joint swoop.
Videos that circulated online showed rows of detainees, mostly men, forced into physical drills on the streets while appearing confused and distressed. Many said they had not been told why they were being taken away.
Locals in Dadwene insist that security forces targeted the wrong community. According to residents, the team meant to raid Dadwene on the Kumasi Obuasi stretch after an alleged assault on an EPA team, yet mistakenly descended on the Dadwene located along the Obuasi Dunkwa road.
All suspects were later transported to Kumasi and brought before a court, which ordered their remand into prison custody for two weeks. Outside the Kumasi Central Prisons, families gathered in long, emotional lines, waiting to ask about their relatives and hoping for bail.
They are scheduled to return to court on Thursday, 27th November 2025, Myjoyonline reported.
Eyewitnesses say they tried to prove the innocence of some of those arrested but were ignored by the security personnel. “My husband even showed them his ID card that he works as an electrician for AGA, but the police didn’t heed and sent him away. They ransacked our room. They didn’t explain to us what wrong my husband had done,” said Kukuaa Amissah, a wife of one of the arrested residents.
Community members and some Members of Parliament, including Tano North MP Gideon Boako, have sharply criticized the operation. They argue that many people with no links to illegal mining were swept up in the raids, and they want immediate action to free those they believe were wrongfully detained. They are also urging the military to carry out more precise and better-targeted interventions.
