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The Ashanti Regional Minister, Samuel Sarpong has revealed that his region has the highest record of armed robbery activities in the country. According to him, intelligence reports also revealed that there were more homegrown armed robbers in the region than any other region. Police in the Ashanti region arrested about 40 armed robbers in a swoop last month. Some of the robbers were alleged to have killed their victims in the process. Addressing the press on Thursday at the regional coordinating council meeting ,Mr. Sarpong who also heads the region�s security council said he had marked out some security and intelligence plans to deal with the menace, as well as the miscreants committing the atrocities. Mr. Sarpong said his administration will support the efforts of the Ghana Police Service with the supply of logistics and other weapons to rid the region of criminals. The Minister again raised concerns about the increasing activities of illegal mining in the region. �Illegal activities are itching deep into the fabric of the nation�s forest reserves and water bodies in the country and we have to wage a purposive war against these negative practices so as to help protect and reserve the environment and its water bodies.� Government earlier asked assemblies in the Ashanti region with mining concessions to find a lasting solution to galamsey activities. Government issued the directive after withdrawing a taskforce of security personnel from the various concessions in the region.