The Chief Executive Officer of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), Professor Nana Ama Klutse, has disclosed details of a violent confrontation between illegal miners and a joint EPA team and journalists near Obuasi, which led to a road accident injuring several people.
Speaking on TV3 on Thursday, November 6, 2025, Prof. Klutse explained that the incident occurred during an ongoing three-week anti-galamsey operation aimed at dismantling the supply chains that enable illegal mining in water bodies across the country.
“The operation…it’s a three-week plan that the EPA has to ensure that, especially the services that others provide for mining in our water bodies — which is illegal — are also tackled. We realised it is not just enough to say stop mining in the rivers; we needed to deal with the suppliers,” she said.
According to Prof. Klutse, the team was inspecting illegal mining activities at Dadwene, a community near Obuasi, when they were attacked by armed miners.
The group, which included military and national security officers, had to retreat for safety.
“On our way near Obuasi, we saw galamsey happening on the ground, so we decided to have a look. When we stopped and walked into the area, they all ran away.
By the time we got there, they had left. We noticed three excavators operating directly in the river, blocking it and diverting the flow. It was really a bad situation,” she recounted.
Prof. Klutse said that as the team was leaving the site, they noticed armed men dressed in black uniforms labelled “CID” approaching.
Although soldiers and national security operatives tried to engage them, the situation became tense.
“We had the military and national security with us, but we couldn’t exchange fire, so we had to run for our lives,” she said.
She revealed that while retreating through Afari, the convoy was advised by their Accra command to change routes due to security threats.
However, during the diversion, one of the vehicles collided head-on with a truck believed to be transporting pipes used for illegal mining.
“Just before we reached Kumasi, we had the head-on collision,” she explained.
Several EPA officials and journalists sustained injuries, with a Joy TV cameraman suffering a broken thigh and an Adom TV correspondent sustaining a head injury.
Prof. Klutse expressed gratitude that there were no fatalities and commended health professionals treating the injured.
“We thank God that we all have our lives. It is just unfortunate that we have some injuries. We have spoken to the doctors and nurses to pay special attention to them because they were injured while on national duty,” she said.
