The Special Taskforce Committee Members on suspension of mining activities in Taraba State have intercepted seven trucks loaded with precious stones suspected to be fluoride.
This was made known by the commander of the strike force, Jamu Emmanuel, on Monday, who said the arrest was made possible by the state government House’s Strike Force, in Jalingo.
According to Emmanuel, the trucks were intercepted along Anyim in the Wukari axis of Wukari Local Government Council of the state, adding that the precious stones were coming from a famous mining site in Akwana when the taskforce intercepted them.
The task force revealed that before their arrest, the suspects had planned to prevent the government from coming to the area to stop them from perpetrating illegal mining.
It claimed that the owners of the trucks hailed from both Rivers and Enugu States, and were being aided by persons from Akwana village in Taraba State.
Meanwhile, the truck drivers were said to have taken to their heels on sighting the task force, which compelled the task force to hire drivers to move the trucks to the state capital.
Recall that Governor, Agbu Kefas, had placed a ban on all forms of mining activities in the nooks and crannies of the state and set up a mobile court to try violators of the executive order.
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In another news, the Ogun State Government, on Sunday, said it had shut a recycling company, Maths Metal Recycling Limited, in the Sagamu area of Ogun State, for deliberate industrial pollution which exposed residents to danger.
The state Commissioner for Environment, Ola Oresanya, said the company was issued several warnings for polluting the environment with contaminated oil but they refused to seek caution.
It was gathered that the recycling company punctured a passage at the back of its premises to discharge the waste to the environment instead of installing retention tanks within the company, where the bad oil and other solvents were supported to be treated.
Oresanya said, “By doing this, the management of Maths Metal has not only caused pollution but has also committed a criminal act that is punishable under the Ogun State Environmental Sanitation Laws as their deliberate action has adversely affected residents of community living around them.
“The state government will now have to establish the extent of damage done to the well-being of members of the community especially the percolation of the contaminated oil on their underground water”, Oresanya added.