The Attorney General and Minister for Justice and the Inspector General of Police have been petitioned by environmental activists to detail the number of foreign nationals arrested for engaging in illegal mining in Ghana and their nationalities.

In the petition by the Ghana Environmental Advocacy Group and A Rocha Ghana, concern was expressed over reports by The Fourth Estate that only two out of hundreds of Chinese nationals arrested for engaging in illegal mining from 2012 to date remain in Ghanaian jails.

“To read that those arrested end up quietly deported to their home countries with their loot without any further consequences while the state and local communities are left to reel under the weight of the environmental degradation they leave behind is both unconscionable and irresponsible,” the petition stated.

These concerns come after the re-arrest of Aisha Huang despite her deportation in 2019 for engaging in legal mining in Ghana.

Reports indicate that Aisha came to Ghana from a neighbouring country through a land border.

Upon her arrival, she also acquired a Ghana card in February 2022 with a new name, Huang En.

Find below the full demands in the petition:
a. Share with Ghanaians the number of foreign nationals arrested for engaging in
illegal mining in Ghana and their nationalities.
b. Number of those arrested that are currently in jail
c. Number of those who have been released and for what reason (s)
d. Number of those deported and under what conditions
e. Number of such deportees who have returned and
f. Measures that have been put in place to ensure that new people coming do not
engage in illegal mining in Ghana.