Policeman shot dead in an attack on gold mine

A Police Lance Corporal was shot dead and three other people, including two Chinese, sustained gunshot wounds when a suspected robbery attack on a small-scale gold mine at Animoa near Nyinahin in the Atwima-Mponua turned tragic.

The deceased, Kennedy Boateng, stationed at Abuakwa, was said to have stormed the mine together with two soldiers, now on the run, in the afternoon of Thursday, October 6.

The miners put up fierce resistance, triggering a shootout, and in the process, the policeman was killed.

Wei Quijie and Li Ruiqin, both with the Bensco Small-Scale Mining Company, and Kwabena Amponsah, who is alleged to have ferried the security officers in a canoe to the mine, also got injured.

The three are receiving treatment at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH).

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Ernest Fosu, the Nyinahin District Commander, confirmed the incident to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), and said the police received information that some people had attacked the mine at about 1500 hours.

They quickly mobilized and rushed to the place where they saw the policeman dead in a pool of blood.

They also recovered September’s pay slip bearing the name of Ofosuhene Apenteng with Service Number 192652, Unit Headquarters of the Northern Command, from a torn military uniform left at the scene.

The police again found a damaged taxi cab believed to have been used for the operation by the deceased and his accomplices.

DSP Fosu said the body of the policemen had been deposited at the Toase Mortuary while they had intensified their investigations to get to the bottom of the matter.

Source: GNA