Atik Mohammed has called on government to intensify the sanctions against illegal miners, particularly the foreigners involved.

Illegal mining (galamsey) is a headache to the nation; for years, little has been done to end this menace.

As part of President Nana Akufo-Addo's measures to end the menace, two hundred (200) soldiers have been deployed with an instruction to remove all persons engaged in galamsey.

A statement by the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah on Wednesday read ''in furtherance of the resolutions of the final communique, of the Stakeholder Dialogue on Small Scale Mining on April 14 -15, 2021 and to ensure that mining within water bodies is immediately stopped; the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has authorized the Ghana Armed Forces, to commence an operation, to remove all persons and logistics involved in mining from Ghana’s water bodies.

''The operation commenced at 0600 hours on Wednesday, April 28th, 2021 on the River Pra in the Central and Western Regions of Ghana. Two Hundred (200) officers of the Ghana Armed Forces are involved in the operation.''

Atik charged the government to arrest and jail all Chinese and other foreigners who engage in illegal mining.

He was of a strong view that a jail sentence will serve as a deterrent to the foreign illegal miners.

"If they realize, there are jail terms to be served if they're found culpable of doing galamsey, I'm sure the numbers of the Chinese will significantly minimize . . . the sanction regime should be stronger, should be more deterring," he said during Peace FM's morning show ''Kokrokoo''.