Operatives attached to the Kwara State Police Command have arrested eight suspects over illegal mining in Kwara state.
The arrested suspects are Isah Amisu, Mohammed Zanihat Idris, Alhassan Rabiu, Mohammed Abdulbagi, Abdulbagi Sadiq, Mohammed Zanihat, Ibrahim Sule Balarabe, Mohammed Dalhatu, Idris and Abubakar Tasiu.
NigeriaCrime.com gathered that suspects were arrested with three trailer loads of marbles with registration numbers SGM 222 ZR and BWR 151 YL and SGM 222 ZR, respectively along Share, Tsaragi and Patigi areas of the state.
Confirming the arrest, the public relations officer of Kwara State Police Command, Ajayi Okasanmi, said their arrest was prompted by a petition written to the commissioner of police by the residents and natives of Patigi in Patigi Local government area of Kwara State and the Association of Licenced Miners of Kwara state complaining that illegal miners have turned their ancestral lands to a beehive of illegal mining of the mineral resources.
Okasanmi said that the complainants lamented that the development had caused ecological crisis and sabotage the economy of both the state and the federal government.
“Based on this petition, a team of Kwara State Police Command’s operatives were dispatched to the area to arrest and if possible recover and impound any illegally mined minerals in the said area.
“The police team swung into action and the suspects were arrested with three trailer loads of suspected marbles illegally mined.”He said.
Okasanmi added that exhibits have been recovered to the police headquarters, while the suspects after interrogation and confessions have been charged to court.
Recall that two weeks ago eleven illegal miners were arrested in the state by operatives of NSCDC.
The suspects are; Kaka Azare (56), Muhammed Dan Azumi (30), Abdullahi Adamu (35), Abdullahi Muhammed (30), Suleiman Babayo (20), Muhammed Umar (15), Nasiru Abubakar (18), Adam Muhammed (25), Alh Muhammed (25), Nasir Bello (25), and Ismail Garba (25) were arrested at Share town, in the Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State.
According to the public relations officer of the NSCDC, Ayeni Olasunkanmi, the suspects were arrested with three big trucks fully loaded with raw materials suspected to be Lithium, illegally mined at Patigi.
The suspects were intercepted by our men at Share in Ifelodun LGA, Kwara State, on their way to Ogun State. The command is working hard with other relevant agencies to curtail the activities of illegal miners within the state.
“Apart from the pact between the federal ministry of Mines and steel to help fight this menace, Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq has also ordered the NSCDC Kwara Command, to save the state from illegal Mining activities.