Kwara police arrest 8 suspected illegal miners, recover marble stones

Kwara State police have arrested eight suspected illegal miners and recovered three trailer loads of marble stones in the state’s Patigi Local Government Area (LGA).

Okasanmi Ajayi, the state Police Public Relations Officer, revealed this in a statement on Thursday, saying the suspects were apprehended on October 30 in the Share, Tsaragi, and Patigi areas of the state.

He stated that the arrest was made possible as a result of a petition and a letter to the state Commissioner of Police, Paul Odama.

Residents of Patigi Local Government Area and the Association of Licenced Miners of Kwara State, according to the police spokesman, have complained that illegal miners have turned their ancestral lands into a beehive of illegal mineral resource mining.

According to Ajayi, the situation has caused ecological problems as well as economic sabotage in both the state and the federal governments.

“Based on this petition, a team of Kwara State Police Command’s operatives was dispatched to the area to arrest and if possible, recover and impound any illegally mined minerals in the said area,” the statement read in part.

“The police team swung into action and on 30/10/2022 at about 02:00hrs the suspects named hereunder were arrested with three trailer loads of suspected marbles illegally mined.”

Abdulbagi Sadiq, Isah Amisu, Mohammed Zanihat Idris, Alhassan Rabiu, Mohammed Abdulbagi, Ibrahim Sule Balarabe, Mohammed Dalhatu Idris, and Abubakar Tasiu are the suspects.

Noting that the recovered exhibits had been transported to the state police headquarters, the PPRO stated that the suspects had been charged in court following interrogation and confessions.

He also stated that economic sabotage and any acts detrimental to the health and security of the lives and property of the state’s citizens and people would be opposed.

The police spokesman urged Kwara State residents to work with the police to rid the state of all forms of criminality.