A Chinese national, Huang Ruixia aka Aisha Huang, has been re-arrested in Ghana on charges of illegal small-scale mining and providing mining support services without valid registration with the Minerals Commission.
Aisha Huang is also accused of employing foreign nationals illegally and disobeying immigration directives.
Although her legal status has not been verified, some suspect that she is a political operative with high political support in the country.
Aisha Huang became popular in Ghana years ago, but she fled the country under bizarre circumstances. In April 2019, she returned to Ghana and began mining without a license.
On September 2, 2022, Aisha Huang was arraigned before the Accra Circuit Court and her plea to the charges is yet to be taken by the court presided over by Bright Acquah since the court had no Chinese interpreter at the time.
The prosecution said that Aisha Huang was re-arrested for mining without a license but was able to conceal her activities by changing her Chinese passport details and staying in Ghana.
According to the prosecution, the suspect applied for a Togo visa and went through the borders into Ghana and back to the galamsey business in a town in the Ashanti Region.
The three others with her, according to the prosecutor, were selling mining equipment and dealing in gold without a valid licence in Accra.
She had been charged with three counts of undertaking small-scale mining operations, contrary to Section 99 (1) of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703); providing mining support services without valid registration with the Minerals Commission, and contrary to the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703), and the illegal employment of foreign nationals, contrary to the Immigration Act, 2000 (Act 573).
They were arrested upon intelligence by National Security officials.
They are expected to re-appear before the court on September 14, 2022.
The Ghana Prison Service declined to provide details of the crimes committed by the two Chinese nationals. According to the ministry of Lands and Mines, the Chinese illegal miners re-entered Ghana in large numbers after their deportations.
The media has reported that up to 150 Chinese illegal miners have been arrested in the Central, Western, and Ashanti regions.
Ghana’s Immigration Service refused to provide any information regarding the number of Chinese nationals entering the country from 2012 until now or how many have been deported in that period.
