No fewer than eleven persons have been arrested by the Kwara State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for suspected illegal mining.
The Corps spokesman, Olasunkanmi Ayeni, while parading the suspects on Wednesday, disclosed that they were arrested on 17th of October along Share in Ifelodun Local Government Areas of the state on their way to Ogun State with three big trucks fully loaded with with raw materials suspected to be Lithium, illegally mined at Patigi.
He said they were caught based on the Intelligence Information.
Ayeni gave the suspects names as: 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).
He, therefore, warned all illegal miners in Kwara to desist from such acts, as it will not be taken with levity.
"Apart from the pact between the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel to help fight this menace, the Executive Governor of Kwara state, Mallam Abdulrahaman Abdulrasaq has also ordered the NSCDC Kwara Command to save the state from the illegal Minning activities," he said.
The state Commandant, Muhammed Tukur Ibrahim who spoke through the Command PRO sent a note of warning to all illegal minners to either follow the due process if they want to do the business or leave the state in their own interest, because the Command will not hesitate to bring any one that engage in illegal minning to book.
However, speaking on behalf of other suspects, Muhammed Alhaji acknowledged being involved in illegal mining.
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