3 Chinese, community leader, 17 others arrested for illegal mining

Twenty-one illegal miners, including a community leader, three Chinese nationals have been arrested over alleged illegal mining in Azam village, near Nasarawa State.

The Federal Capital Territory Police Command said the operation that led to the arrested of the suspect, codenamed: “Safe G-7” followed the worrisome menace of kidnapping, banditry and other criminal activities in FCT and its neighbouring states.

Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the FCT, DSP Josephine Adeh, in a statement said heads of the security agencies in the region had embarked on a massive raid and clean-up operation in all mapped out hideouts, camps and areas serving as refuges to the miscreants.

She said the operation was targeted at addressing the menace of kidnapping, banditry and other criminal activities within seven states of Kogi, Niger, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Benue, Plateau and the FCT.

She said the continuation of Tuesday’s operation in Matte, Kwali area council,  to reclaim the village, recently invaded by suspected bandits, was successful and immediately followed up with deployments to provide the needed security.

“In compliance with the G-7 mandates, on day two of the operation, the JTF continued the patrol of villages sharing boundaries with Nassarawa State.

“Upon the receipt of actionable intelligence, the team stormed a camp at Azam village, where an illegal mining site of about 40-minute walk distance from the said village was discovered.

“The miners who were said to have established a symbiotic relationship with bandits/kidnappers engaged the team in a gun duel and were forced to retreat and subsequently, over powered by the superior fire power of the JTF,” she said.

Adeh said majority of the suspects were from the various bordering states and confessed to have enjoyed unfiltered cooperation with the head of the local community who was immediately arrested.

She said the three male Chinese nationals arrested in connection to the offence would be handed over to the Nigeria Immigration Service to establish their immigration status in Nigeria.

The PPRO said refined and unrefined gold, two gold weigh scales, criminal charms, 17 mobile phones, four motorcycles, two dane guns, shovels, cutlasses, two pumping machines and one generator were recovered from the suspects.

She said substances suspected to be Cannabis, and other forms of hard drugs were also, recovered.