At least 124 Chinese nationals suspected of illegal gold mining have been detained in Ghana, officials say.
Chinese officials said most of those detained were mining illegally without visas, work and residency permits.
They are negotiating the detainees’ release, a spokesman from the Chinese Embassy in Ghana said.
The arrests took place in several locations around the country following a call by Ghanaian officials to end unauthorized mining by foreigners.
Officials raided a hotel and areas near mines where the Chinese were living, the embassy said.
The arrests are part of an ongoing crackdown on foreign nationals working in small-scale gold mines, reserved by law for Ghanaians, reports the BBC’s Akwasi Sarpong from the capital, Accra.
Ghana is expected to repatriate the miners who were arrested during the raids in four mineral-rich regions, he says.
A Ghana immigration official told Xinhua news agency that the detainees “were involved in illegal gold mining”.
They are being held at an immigration center in Accra, Chinese officials said.
Read the rest of this story on the BBC
