An immigration officer has testified that when he and other officers arrested some Chinese illegal miners in 2017 at Bepotenten in the Ashanti Region, they claimed they were working for En Huang a.k.a. Aisha Huang.
He, however, said he did not see Aisha Huang at the mining site or saw her engaging in illegal mining activities.
Superintendent Reuben Ransford Aborabora is the first prosecution witness in the trial in which Aisha Huang has been charged for allegedly engaging in mining without licence.
Led by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, the witness told the Accra High Court today that on May 5, 2017, he led a team of officers to Bepotenten in the Ashanti Region.
Mining site
According to him, the team went to Bepotenten to verify claims that some Chinese nationals were engaging in illegal mining in flagrance of the government’s ban on such activities.
The witness said when the team got to Bepotenten, they saw mining activities ongoing there with excavators, washing machine and other machines being used by the miners.
He added that the team further saw Chinese nationals and others at the site.
Supt Aborabora said the team also saw some Chinese in a wooden structure which had appliances and cooking utensils.
He said the team managed to arrest four Chinese nationals at the site.
Upon arresting the four Chinese nationals, I interacted with them before we set off for Obuasi. I asked them if their mission at the site and Gao Jin Cheng [one of them] said they were there to mine for one Aisha,” the witness said.
Cross examination
During cross-examinations, counsel for Aisha, Captain (rtd) Nkrabea Effah-Dartey, asked the witness whether he saw his client at the mining site engaging in any mining activities, to which the witness said no.
