Ghana to Deport 150 Chinese Miners

Accused of working in the country illegally

More than 150 Chinese citizens arrested in Ghana for illegal mining will be deported next week but will not face criminal charges, an immigration official said Friday.

The 169 arrests have been carried out since June 1 across the west African country and particularly in the central Ashanti region, a major gold-mining hub.

"I believe by the middle of next week we should have repatriated them," Michael Amoako-Atta, a spokesman at the Ghana Immigration Service, told AFP.