The Western Regional Manager of the Forestry Commission, Nana Poku Bosompim, has revealed chilling encounters his officers have had with illegal miners (galamseyers) who allegedly use spiritual fortifications to make themselves impervious to bullets.
Speaking on TV3’s Key Points programme on Saturday, November 21, 2025, Mr Bosompim recounted harrowing experiences where armed rapid response teams and rangers were forced to retreat after exhausting their ammunition without stopping the advancing miners.
“We were firing at them, but the bullets were not penetrating them, and they kept advancing,” he stated.
“They kept firing, firing, firing until they exhausted all their bullets. The commander then had no choice but to order them to run for their lives. Everybody scattered in different directions just to save their lives.”
He narrated that in one incident, an officer was shot in the abdomen and had about 30 pellets surgically removed but survived and has since returned to duty.
Mr Bosompim further described how some miners are emboldened and led by individuals wielding cutlasses and reciting incantations, apparently invoking spiritual protection and up attacking his officers.
“We shot at them from a distance, but we didn’t know how – in the split of a second – they closed in on us and managed to inflict a machete wound on one of my officers,” he narrated.
According to the regional manager, the only way his teams have been able to arrest such fortified miners is by first removing their talismans, charms, amulets, and rings.
“Once that is done, they become very soft, very sober, and we are able to handle them, arrest them, and bring them to the police station for investigation and further prosecution,” he explained.
Despite the supernatural challenges, Mr Bosompim praised his officers as the “real heroes” and “unsung heroes” in the fight against illegal mining, singling out the forest guards, rapid response team, and ranger officers for their bravery.
Illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, remains a major threat to Ghana’s forest reserves and water bodies, with successive governments struggling to curb the menace despite military task forces and heightened public campaigns.