Ghana risks terrorist evasion due to the activities of illegal mining activities in the country popularly known as galamsey.
This is according to the National Security Minister, Mr Albert Kan Dapaah.
He said these “criminals” are attracted to gold mining areas.
Speaking at a press briefing on Sunday, the Minister said the terrorists will use the monies to fund their activities.
However, he said the country’s security forces are aware and are on high alert to prevent any action of theirs.
“In Mali, in Burkina Faso, the terrorists have always been attracted to gold mining areas. Clearly, they try to make money from gold mining activities to undertake the criminal activities that they do.
“The criminals may want to take advantage of galamsey activities in our country to raise money to do what they do in other countries and what they may plan to do in our country. We are aware of this. We are studying it.
“We do know what has to be done in this area, and we work hard to make sure we are not overtaken by events. But clearly, one way that you can make cheap money to go and undertake some of these criminal activities is galamsey, so it’s of interest,” he said.
The West African sub-region has been confronted with terrorist threats, as Ghana’s neighbours Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso have suffered attacks from terror groups in recent times.
This compelled the government to launch the “See Something, Say Something” campaign three months ago to encourage the citizenry to report any suspicious activity or characters.
Also,galamsey activities have topical issues to their effects on the country’s water bodies.
The Chinese galamsey kingpin Aisha Huang together with her three other accomplices is facing trials for their involvement in the illegality.
Source: myjoyonline.com
