18-year-old miner jailed 10 years for mining equipment theft in Tarkwa

The Tarkwa Circuit Court has sentenced an 18-year-old small-scale miner, Mohammed Razak, to 10 years in prison with hard labour for stealing mining equipment valued at GH¢11,990.

Razak, who had recently been imprisoned by the same court for a similar crime, pleaded guilty to the theft charge.

Chief Inspector Abraham Ayitey, the prosecutor, presented the case before the court, presided over by Mrs Hathia Ama Manu. He stated that the complainant, Thomas Tetteh, is a small-scale miner residing in Wassa Japa, located in the Wassa Amenfi East constituency.

Tetteh, who owns a small-scale mining site at Wassa Japa, had paused his operations a month ago due to a water shortage and had dismantled all his mining equipment, intending to transport it to a safer location.

However, the day after halting his activities, Tetteh returned to his site and discovered that his Changfa diesel engine worth GH¢8,000, a pumping machine worth GH¢1,700, and a crusher worth GH¢3,700 had been stolen.

The prosecutor explained that Tetteh made enquiries about the missing equipment within the Wassa Japa community, which eventually led to the arrest of Razak. Tetteh then took Razak to the Wassa Akropong police station and reported the incident, handing him over to the police for investigation.

Chief Inspector Ayitey further told the court that Razak confessed to selling the stolen items to a scrap dealer at Wassa Adiembra. However, when the police attempted to retrieve the equipment with Razak's assistance, they were unable to locate the scrap dealer in question.