Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story has been updated to improve accuracy and clarity.

A private forest guard is critically injured after he was shot by suspected illegal loggers during a violent confrontation in a newly established forest plantation at Abesewa in the Ahafo Ano South West District of the Ashanti Region.

The victim is not a guard attached to the Forestry Commission but a private security guard contracted by the chief in the area to protect the plantation.

The armed suspects allegedly attempted to gain access to the forest to fell trees illegally but were confronted by the team of private forest guards.

One of the private forest guards sustained gunshot wounds during the attack.

Speaking to Adom News, the Odikro of Bosomproso, Nana Yaw Gyamfi, disclosed that the forest plantation was established under a public-private partnership as part of efforts to restore degraded forest reserves through a reforestation initiative.

According to him, the trees have grown significantly and are nearing maturity. However, suspected illegal loggers have, over the past year, been unlawfully harvesting the trees for commercial gain, despite repeated efforts to stop them.

He said the activities of the loggers continue to threaten the success of the reforestation project.

“The illegal loggers are becoming a major threat to our community. They are destroying a forest we have invested heavily in to restore. The worrying aspect is that they are heavily armed and continue to threaten the lives of those protecting the plantation,” Nana Yaw Gyamfi said.

The odikro explained that the private forest guards had been employed to safeguard the plantation from illegal logging activities, but the suspects opened fire on them during the confrontation.

Nana Yaw Gyamfi has therefore appealed to the government to deploy armed security personnel to support forest protection efforts in the area, warning that the community risks losing its restored forest if urgent action is not taken.

“If the government does not deploy military personnel to protect the forest, the Tree for Life initiative will achieve little. We will simply be wasting the huge investments made in restoring these forests,” he added.

According to him, the injured private forest guard is receiving medical treatment at Tepa Government Hospital while police are investigating to arrest the perpetrators.