Soldier Nabbed For Robbing Chinese Miners....As 9kilos of Gold Go Missing

Barely 24 hours after Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, Chief Executive Officer of Hansol Mining company had openly accused the security agencies of �stealing 9 kilos of pure gold� from one of his mining sites, the Ashanti Regional Police has arrested a Military Police (MP)officer and two others for alegedly robbing some Chinese miners. Private David Osei Kofi of the Military Police was arrested together with two other people for allegedly robbing Chinese miners at Nwineso Number-Three in the Atwima-Kwanwoma District. They reportedly seized from their victims, laptops, cellular phones and an unspecified amount of money at gun-point. The Ashanti Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Augustine Gyenning, at a press briefing, gave the names of the other suspects as Twum Bediako and Philip Quarshie. According to the Regional Commander, the alleged robbers dressed in Military uniforms, stormed the mining site and attacked the Chinese on Easter Monday evening. He said the people in the community alerted the Police and they quickly responded. Private Osei Kofi, who travelled all the way from Burma Camp to carry out the alleged robbery and his colleagues managed to slip through but were chased to Pekyi-Number Two and arrested. DCOP Gyenning said the robbers had confessed to attacking Chinese miners, adding that, they would soon be put before court. Meanwhile, Hansol Mining, the only Ghanaian -owned licensed small-scale mining company, is to petition the Inspector General of Police (IGP) over alleged theft by national security operatives. The alleged theft occurred during a recent raid which saw the arrest of illegal Chinese miners. The company claims the security operatives from the Immigration and Police services stole nine kilos of gold, two pickup trucks and thousands of dollars during a recent purported raid at the company�s gold mining concession in the Ashanti region. According to Joy Fm, the company�s General Manager, Kojo Abraham, is on record as saying the security personnel forcefully took the money from the Chinese nationals during the raid before loading three trucks of their property. He further claimed they burnt two excavators and some foreign currency notes. In a related development, Mr. Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, has challenged the numerous arrest of Chinese nationals working for his company.He claims they are working legally and showed Joy Fm a letter from the Interior Ministry dated June 17, 2010 and signed by Secretary to the Immigration Committee, Samuel Amankwa. The letter granted the mining company approval to engage ten expatriates in small-scale mining for a three-year period.