Members of the Forestry Commission’s Rapid Response team were ambushed and attacked by armed illegal miners at a galamsey site in the Offin Shelter Belt Forest Reserves in the Ashanti Region.
The brutal attack left one forestry personnel critically wounded, struggling for his life at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional capital.
According to eyewitnesses, the Rapid Response team was met with a hail of gunfire and machetes as they entered the forest.
“These armed illegal miners just ambushed and attacked members of the Forestry Commission’s Rapid Response team, wounding one critically,” an eyewitness recounted.
The officer, who is yet to be identified, was slashed in the knee with a machete and is currently in a critical condition.
The attack was a clear indication that the galamseyers are becoming increasingly brazen and violent in their attempts to evade the law.
The Rapid Response team had taken pictures of the armed thugs before entering the area, but they were caught off guard by the ambush.
“Before they entered the area, the team took pictures of these armed thugs, but upon entry, they realized a number of them had laid an ambush,” a source revealed.
