The Forestry Commission has begun establishing permanent camps in forest reserves affected by illegal mining to prevent miners from returning to cleared sites with new equipment, the Western Regional Manager of the Commission, Nana Poku Bosompim, has disclosed.

According to him, the Commission’s decision follows repeated instances where illegal miners return to forest reserves shortly after enforcement teams withdraw from the areas.

He said the Commission is therefore moving away from periodic raids and withdrawals to maintaining a continuous security presence in vulnerable forest reserves.

“We see new changfan machines every day. You burn them, and they keep bringing [them] in,” Nana Poku said in an interview on TV3’s Key Points programme on Saturday, August 8, 2026.

He explained that illegal miners often relocate to other sections of a forest reserve when enforcement teams arrive, only to return to previously cleared locations after the officers leave.

“You go to this particular forest reserve, flush the people out, destroy the machinery, and they move to another forest,” he said. “They know for sure that we are not going to be there 24 hours, seven times a week.”

Nana Poku was speaking about an eight-day operation conducted at the Cape Three Points Forest Reserve in the Western Region, which he said resulted in the destruction of 125 changfan machines and 202 industrial water pumps.

The operation also led to the arrest of 41 people and the destruction of 59 makeshift structures allegedly used as mining camps within the forest reserve.

He disclosed that four of the 41 suspects arrested were women who were found in the forest after 2 a.m.

According to Nana Poku, 27 of the suspects have since been remanded by a Circuit Court in Takoradi, while the remaining suspects are expected to appear before the court from Monday.

He said the Commission has subsequently started establishing permanent camps within the Cape Three Points Forest Reserve to maintain a sustained presence and prevent illegal miners from returning to areas that have been cleared.

The new approach, he explained, is intended to address the challenge of miners repeatedly returning to forest reserves after conventional enforcement operations have ended.