Residents of Anyinam in Atiwa district of the Eastern region are accusing the anti-galamsey task force of killing four people in the area as part of the operation to enforce the ban on illegal small scale mining.
According to the residents, the four individuals were shot by the joint military and police task force in Operation Vanguard.
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The bodies of the deceased were found near a mining pit at Akyem Akukusu in the Eastern region. They have been identified as Titi, 32, Charles Osei, 25, Alhaji Danjima, 22, and Iddrisu Usif, 38.Â
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The police in the region have retrieved the bodies and deposited them at the Police Hospital in Accra.
Residents accuse the task force of firing upon them at night. They contend the men were not illegal miners’ but drivers of excavators hired to tow some machines from a mining site to another, hence their presence in the area at the time.
Spokesperson for Operation Vanguard, Major Gariba Pabi, has however denied the claims, stressing that the task force has not been to the area. According to him, they heard the rumours but his men were not in that area as claimed by the residents.
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