Joint Inspection Personnel Of Illegal Gold Mines In Banyuwangi, 4 Dompeng Machines Confiscated

BANYUWANGI - Joint personnel of the TNI-Police and Perhutani Forest Management Unit (KPH) South Banyuwangi, East Java held an illegal gold mining inspection operation.

The operation is carried out to control because the area is often found in illegal gold mining activities.

The Head of Ops for the Banyuwangi Police, Kompol Agung, said the operation was carried out based on reports from local farmers who claimed that their rice fields were affected by mining waste. In this operation, there were as many as 218 joint personnel deployed.

"From this illegal gold mining operation, the officers were unable to secure the perpetrators, but the officers managed to secure 4 dompeng machines (tools for gold mining in rivers) used by the miners", he said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Head of ADM Perhutani Forest Management Unit South Banyuwangi, Mukhlisin Sabarna, said that the existence of an illegal gold mine in Petak 56 was suspected for a long time. Even though the illegal gold mines are also often investigated by the authorities.

"But the miners seem determined to continue to carry out illegal gold mining in that location", he said.