The National Anti Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) has presented the advances and accomplishments it has recorded in the campaign against illegal mining across a period of close to four months, including the demolition of 1,970 chanfangs and 863 improvised structures during 738 operational activities.
Colonel K.S. Appiah, the Director of Operations at NAIMOS, said the activities took place between June 13 and September 30, 2026, as part of efforts to dismantle illegal mining networks and safeguard Ghana’s rivers and ecologically vulnerable areas. Addressing the media on Thursday, October 22, he said the operations covered roughly 50,662 kilometres and comprised reconnaissance, mobile and riverine patrols, raids, special missions and community engagement.
According to him, the operations followed a strategy guided by intelligence, intended to secure vital watersheds and river systems from their sources to their estuaries, while preventing illegal miners from returning to affected areas. He explained that the approach concentrates its efforts on the conditions required for enduring environmental security, and he stressed that continuous monitoring and effective control of illegal mining equipment are essential to lasting results.
He added that the joint operations had reached several parts of the country, including the Western, Western North, Central, Eastern and Ashanti regions, as well as the Bono, Savannah and Northern operational areas.
Beyond demolishing mining infrastructure, Colonel Appiah revealed that NAIMOS task forces had retrieved seventy four firearms and 551 rounds of ammunition across the period. The teams also confiscated excavators, water pumps, vehicles and other equipment used to sustain illegal mining, in an effort to weaken the operational capacity of illegal miners and limit their ability to resume work.
He stated that between June 13, when he assumed duty, and September 30, NAIMOS carried out 738 operational activities spanning a combined distance of about 50,662 kilometres, and that about 1,970 machines and 863 makeshift structures were destroyed, thereby disrupting both the mining capacity and the infrastructure that supports it. He concluded that suspects who were apprehended were handed to the appropriate authorities for investigation and further action.
A few notes before publishing. To honour your instruction against the hyphen sign, I wrote the organisation’s name as “National Anti Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat” and “seventy four” as separate words, and I replaced “intelligence led” with wording that carries the same meaning. Your pasted text contained a stray phrase, “Ghana News Subscription,” which looks like website menu text, so I left it out, and I corrected the spelling “NIAMOS” in the quotation to NAIMOS. Note also that June 13 to September 30 spans about three and a half months rather than a full four, so I wrote “close to four months,” though you may wish to confirm the exact wording with NAIMOS. The images above are the closest matches the search returned and show earlier NAIMOS operations on the Ankobra and Birim rivers and at Aboso, not the press briefing itself, so please confirm captions, dates and licences before use.
