Ghana’s illegal mining Galamsey kingpin of Chinese nationality, En Huang, aka Aisha Huang, is on the verge of a 24 months imprisonment.
Huang who was deported four years ago but sneaked back into the country, is accused of embarking on mining without a license.
Aisha was deported in 2018 when the State filed a nolle prosequi (an application to halt a trial) after standing trial over illegal mining activities.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that she is likely to face 24 months imprisonment, if found guilty of breaching the Ghana Immigration Service laws.
It was gathered that deportation in Ghana is carried out by the Minister of the Interior and through Court orders.
They could be canceled, revoked, or rescinded after the process of deportation has been challenged in court.
Huang, according to security sources, re-entered Ghana through Togo after changing some details on her passport.
Sources said the service was currently building a case to “clarify” her mode of entry into the country.
On September 6, 2022, the Office of the Attorney-General in a tweet said: “The Attorney-General has called for the new docket on En Huang, aka Aisha regarding offences she is suspected to have committed.”
“The AG-will also re-initiate prosecution in respect of the old offences for which she was standing trial before her deportation in 2018.”
Huang was arraigned last Friday and remanded into lawful custody for engaging in mining without a license.
It was gathered that she engaged in illegal mining at Bepotenten in the Amansie West, Ashanti Region.
Her alleged accomplices were put before the same court for also engaging in the sale and purchase of minerals without a license.
Meanwhile, the former Convener for the Media Coalition Against Galamsey, MCAG, Dr Kenneth Ashigbey, has described the return of ‘galamsey Kingpin’ Aisha Huang in the mining space as leadership failure in the fight against ‘galamsey’.
In his words: “I said that day, that this woman that has been left off the hook was going to go and come back, and it is not surprising that she did.
This was somebody with serious connections,” he said during an interview at the launch of the 8th edition of Flamingo Awards.
“We really need to get leadership up and doing and say that this thing about galamsey must stop.
“We need the executive to act but when we define leadership, we should not restrict it to the President and Minister in Accra”.
Before the filing of a Nolle Prosequi in 2018 that led to her release and subsequent deportation, Aisha and her compatriots were on May 9, 2017, arraigned before court for engaging in illegal small-scale mining at Bepotenten in the Amansie Central District in the Ashanti Region.
She was charged with three counts of undertaking small-scale mining operations, providing mining support services without valid registration with the Minerals Commission and the illegal employment of foreign nationals.
These were contrary to Section 99 (1) of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703); the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703), and the Immigration Act, 2000 (Act 573).
The other four accused persons were charged with disobedience of directives given by or under the Immigration Act, 2000 (Act 573).
Upon her rearrest for illegally entering the country and mining without a license, the 47-year-old ‘galamsey kingpin’ was remanded into lawful custody by an Accra Circuit Court last Friday after the court preserved her plea because there was no Chinese interpreter.
She is facing a charge of mining without a license and engaging in the sale and purchase of minerals without a valid license.
Her accomplices; John Li Hua, Huang Jei and Huaid Hai Hun, have been charged with engaging in the sale and purchase of minerals without a license.
The three have denied the charge, remanded into lawful custody and expected to reappear on September 14.