Civil Defence Arrest 3 Suspected Illegal Miners

Yakubu Busari

At least no fewer than three suspected illegal miners were paraded by the Plateau state command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps ( NSCDC) headquarters at  Liberty Dam road ,off British American Junction on Tuesday morning.

The state Commandant Olasupo A. Solomon while parading the suspect of  illegal mining in Jos , warned the general public to stay away from embarking  on illegal mining activities within the state .

He said, following an information from their staff in Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau state that illegal miners  have resumed mining activities  in Mista Ali village wrecking havoc to sold and  public school building in the council .

The commandant disclosed that the illegal miners  are between ages  Mr Akinga Lamindi  24, Bitrus Bala 26 and Anas Aliyu 29 using harmful equipments to tilled the ground.

He stressed that the NSCDC has been mandated by the federal government of Nigeria  to enforce and  arrest any  solid mineral defaulters  who are not properly license to operate.

They were arrested with  some  substance  in 3 bags while few of  them on sighting our men escape into the nearby bushes   .

“We  are calling on the general public who want to  volunteer vital information to our men so as to  fish out those that are engaging in this illegal mining of solid minerals in plateau state and its environs to leave illegal activities “,he explained.

According to him, the suspects will be charged to court as soon as all investigations are concluded ,adding the suspects were caught in action at the site with pumping machine,three bags of columbite and tin ,shovels and diggers and other extracting implement including charms .

Solomon further reiterated that two of the suspects were in possession of substance suspected to be be hard drugs .

He used the opportunity to repeat the command commitment to rid the state of illegal miners which is the desire of federal government to make life easy for the people by putting all resources appropriately and no criminal will be allowed to frustrate such efforts.

Commandant Solomon pointed out that mining is a legal business as anybody who is interested in such should approach appropriate authorities for license instead of embarking on illegal mining that constitute environmental hazards without control .

The Assistance Commandant ,the head of operation, Mr Efuk  Friday  and the Public relation officer ,PRO ,Naomi Cishak both expressed  the command readiness to ensure that no illegal mining were allow to destroy the  solid minerals deposits underground.

They said, the NSCDC   held series of awareness campaign to sensitize the affected communities on Friday on the danger of illegal mining with their leaders by advising them to vacate the area but they people refused to listen our warning.

According to statements, efforts to get them to produce their license certificate prove abortive so we were there on Monday and met a market full of miners who were on illegal mining and our men fire gun shots on air to scare them but few of  them refused to vacate the place.

They urged them to go and register with the  federal ministry of mines officially to be provided with the necessary documents to operate remain adamant.