Ghana jails 2 Nigerians 20 years jail for illegal mining

A Ghanaian court has sentenced two Nigerians, Ayodele Jackson and Benjamin Obin, to 20 years imprisonment for illegal mining.

Local media reports that a circuit court handed down the ruling to the two convicts, after their arrest for the crime at Bepoase, in the Western Region of Ghana.

The sentencing held October 7, following Jackson and Obin’s guilty pleas.

Before their sentencing, the two convicts cited unemployment and hunger as their reason for committing the crime.

They also claimed they had only perpetrated the crime for three weeks before their arrest.

The prosecutors told the court that the duo were among 15 others, who were caught in illegal mining activities, with two excavators, a washing plant and a water pumping machine at the crime scene.

They claimed the others fled, leaving the duo.