Gold Smugglers Face the Law: No Escape for Foreigners – GoldBod Vows
The Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) has reaffirmed its resolve to clamp down on illegal gold trading activities involving foreign nationals, making it clear that the era of leniency is over.
Speaking on Kessben TV’s Maakye show, the Media Relations Officer for GoldBod, Prince Kwame Minkah, gave a detailed account of the recent arrests and prosecutions, stressing that the laws of Ghana will be fully applied without compromise.
Addressing the much-discussed arrest of six Indian nationals, Prince Minkah clarified that the first three were apprehended before the issuance of a national directive that ordered all foreigners out of the local gold trading market. According to him, “They were not deported on the spot. They were first taken into the custody of National Security, sent to court, and it was only after due consideration based on the fact that they were arrested before the enforcement of the directive that the decision was made to deport them.”
However, the fate of the second group of three Indians, who were arrested on May 9 after the new GoldBod regulations had come into full effect, will be entirely different. “For them, we are going by the law. If the court rules that they must be imprisoned, then they will serve their sentence right here in Ghana. There will be no room for special treatment,” he declared firmly.
Prince Minkah emphasized that the recent press conference by the Ghana Gold Board served as a bold warning to any foreigner currently in or planning to enter Ghana’s local gold trade. “Under GoldBod’s new laws, foreigners have absolutely no business in the local gold market. If you’re caught, you will face the full rigours of the law,” he warned.
The Ghana Gold Board Act, passed recently, restricts gold trading in Ghana’s local market to Ghanaian entities only, as part of efforts to sanitize the sector and maximize the country’s earnings from its natural resources.
According to Prince Minkah, GoldBod is working hand-in-hand with National Security and other relevant bodies to ensure the laws are enforced across the board.
“No one is above the law,” he concluded. “This is just the beginning.”
By: Gifty Bediako Yamoah
