The suspects with Mole Par k security guards
Three
persons have been arrested for possessing banned rosewood at the Mole National
Park at Larabanga in the Savannah Region.
Information
gathered by DAILY GUIDE indicates that sometime last year, the owners of
the said rosewood were chased out of the park leaving behind the rosewood they
were harvesting.
It
is believed that the suspects sneaked into the Mole Park and attempted to
evacuate the rosewood but were arrested by the security guards stationed at the
park.
The
suspects were arrested together with a green truck that was believed to have
been used to evacuate the rosewood from the park.
They
have since been handed over to the Damongo police for
further investigations.
This
year, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources banned the harvest of
rosewood in line with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species (CITES).
The
Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) has estimated that 9,334,497 kilograms
equivalence of $ 5,462,474 of rosewood was imported by China from Ghana in
September 2019.
According
to EIA, 112,535,353 kilograms equivalence of $64,790,278 of rosewood has been
imported by China from Ghana since March 2019.
The
Mole National Park Manager, Umar Farouk, who confirmed the arrest to DAILY
GUIDE, said they would beef up security around the park and appealed
for support from other security agencies to fight the rosewood menace at the
park.
Mr.
Farouk said the Mole National Park is a national asset and should be protected.
He, therefore, called on residents living around Larabanga and its environs to
assist the government to expose those into rosewood business and other criminal
activities.
FROM Eric Kombat, Larabanga
