Zongdaan Boyak Kolog, the popular small-scale miner widely known as Poloo, has been arrested by a special operations unit of the Ghana Police Service following a series of violent disturbances in the Gbane mining area of the Talensi District in the Upper East Region.
The unit, reportedly known as Black Cobra, rounded up the miner on Wednesday afternoon. Sources within security circles say Poloo is likely to face prosecution for allegedly engaging in illegal mining, disturbing the peace of the area, and committing other offences.
Underground Attack Sparked Arrest
The arrest follows the emergence of exclusive underground CCTV footage showing armed men allegedly linked to Nanlamtaaba Enterprise, Poloo’s mining firm, storming the underground working areas of a large-scale mining company to seize and assault private security guards.
Earl International Group Ghana Gold Limited, the large-scale mining company operating in the area, said 13 private security guards working at its underground operations were assaulted, abducted, and tortured by armed men on Thursday, October 8, 2026.
In a statement issued by its Public and External Relations Unit, the company said a team of underground welders, together with 16 private security guards from Reliable Protection Services, was assigned to Shaft 2, Level 2, to repair equipment and barricades that had been damaged by unidentified intruders. According to the company, “dozens of men wielding offensive weapons stormed the working area and obstructed the work process”.
The company said the armed men rounded up the unarmed guards, confiscated welding machines, and physically assaulted them. They then seized 13 of the guards and forced them out of the underground area to the surface through an illicit mining pit. The 13 guards were reportedly held hostage and further mistreated in a house identified as belonging to Poloo.
A report was made to the police, who deployed a joint police and military team to rescue the victims. The guards were later released on police inquiry bail for medical examination.
A Long-Running Dispute Over 16 Square Kilometres
The incident is the latest development in an ongoing dispute between Nanlamtaaba Enterprise and Earl International over a portion of a 16.02-square-kilometre concession leased to the large-scale mining company for a 14-year period.
Court records indicate that the Gbane mining area was designated exclusively for large-scale mining in 2016. Following the designation, Earl International was granted a mining lease in 2019. However, Poloo obtained a five-year small-scale mining licence covering 25 acres, which reportedly falls within Earl International’s lease area. The licence expired on 14 May 2025.
His lawyers argued that an application for renewal had been submitted, but the Minerals Commission said it had no record of such an application. It also emerged that the purported renewal application did not follow the prescribed procedures under the Minerals and Mining Act.
It has also been reported that Nanlamtaaba Enterprise does not hold a Mining Operating Permit issued by the Chief Inspector of Mines. The enterprise is also reportedly without an Environmental Permit and an Explosives Permit.
On 21 November 2025, the Bolgatanga High Court ordered the police to protect Nanlamtaaba Enterprise’s mining activities in the disputed concession. The court ruled that although the mining licence had expired, Poloo retained rights over the concession until the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources formally terminated them.
On 7 September 2026, the Minerals Commission reportedly issued a notice directing the enterprise to cease operations and vacate the Gbane mining area. A few days after receiving the notice, the enterprise held a press conference and declared that it would disregard the directive and continue mining, citing the court order as justification.
History of Violence
The dispute has produced repeated violence over the past two years. In February 2025, the Circuit Court in Bolgatanga remanded Poloo and several associates over an alleged daylight shooting and death threats against the Chief of Gbane, Naba Zoarezug Tiibaalug Kumbangkpem.
Poloo was arrested along with armed bandits he had reportedly hired from Bawku to help him fight for and protect the mining concession. Among those standing trial was Baba-Yaro Zumah, a self-acclaimed anti-corruption fighter in Bolgatanga. According to police prosecutors, Poloo mobilised the suspects and transported them to the mining site to issue a warning to locals mining in the area he claimed as his concession. He allegedly threatened to shoot and kill anyone found on the concession, including beheading the Chief.
On January 26, 2025, the suspects, now armed, returned to Gbane and fired gunshots sporadically from a Range Rover SUV, creating fear and panic among townspeople. The Upper East Regional Police Commander at the time, DCOP Raymond Adofiem, personally intercepted the suspects’ vehicle on the Tamale-Bolgatanga Road. A search of the vehicle led to the retrieval of one Mossberg Pump Action Rifle and one NP22 Foreign Pistol with 45 live rounds of 9mm ammunition. Five charges were brought against the suspects, including threat of death and possession of firearms.
In May 2025, eight armed men allegedly hired by Poloo were arrested in a police-military operation after another shooting episode. In August 2026, an armed standoff between Gbane youth and guards for Poloo sent residents fleeing, prompting police and military reinforcements from Bolgatanga to intervene and order all weapons dropped.
Residents said the clash was triggered by reports that guards linked to Nanlamtaaba Enterprise had assaulted two young men from the community. Youth in Gbane have said they oppose the company’s presence over what they describe as disrespect toward their chief and elders, and over the recruitment of armed men from outside the area.
Community Tensions and Minerals Commission Intervention
The dispute has drawn in community leaders and regulatory authorities. Ghana’s Minerals Commission has separately ordered both Earl International and Nanlamtaaba Enterprise to halt operations at the site pending an investigation into rival mineral rights, permits, and boundary claims.
Community leaders said a delegation led by the Chief of Gbane plans to meet with the Upper East Regional Police Command over the latest disturbance. The Alliance for Gban Development, a youth group, has previously accused Poloo of endangering community stability, alleging that some individuals had been arrested by the military with AK-47 rifles.
The arrest of Poloo marks a significant escalation in the authorities’ response to the protracted conflict, which has now drawn in the police’s elite Black Cobra unit. It remains to be seen whether the arrest will restore calm to the troubled mining community or further inflame tensions in the Upper East Region.
