Thirteen illegal miners who destroyed water bodies in the Eastern Region were yesterday jailed three years each by the Koforidua Circuit Court.

The convicts, whose jail term totaled 39 years, were also fined a total of GH¢312,000 (GH¢24,000 each).

The judge, Mercy Adei-Kotei, sentenced the 13 after they had pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit crime and mining without licence.

The convicts are William Agyapong alias 3,3,4, Prince Awuni alias Flower, Bernard Darkwah aka Totti, Kwaku Adu, Kwame Kodom, Kofi Nketia alias Nkatie and Isaac Amo aka Kawku Abei.

The rest are Kwabena Yaw Boye, Samuel Ayisi alias Star Boy, Samuel Ayisi aka Tugah One, Jonas Ametor, Anthony Lolome and James Narh.

Presenting the facts of the case, Assistant State Attorney, Cyril Boateng Keteku, said the convicts were arrested by a taskforce of the Forestry Services Commission at Akwatia in the Denkyembuor District of the Eastern Region.

The prosecutor indicated that the taskforce arrested the 13 convicts on January 8, 2018 in the Atiwa Forest as they were mining without licence.