13 suspected illegal miners operating in Kakafu village, in the Patigi Local Government Area of the state have been arrested by the Ilorin Zonal command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The spokesperson for the agency in the state, Ayodele Babatunde, in a statement, said the suspects were arrested on Tuesday during a joint operation which followed credible intelligence received by the EFCC operatives over some suspected illegal miners operating in the area.
He said, “The suspects are Buba Mohammed, Yusuf Umar, Surajo Shehu, Abubakar Abdullahi, Salisu Mohammed, Quadri Sulaiman, Nwafor Chinonso, Abdullahi Isa, Mustapha Mohammed, Buhari Hassan, Basiru Jafaru, Murtala Jafaru, and Jafaru Abdullahi.
“The trucks fully loaded with different brands of solid minerals were recovered from the suspects. Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspects were not paying royalties to the federal government as required by law.
“The suspects will soon be charged to court upon the conclusion of the ongoing investigation”, the statement added.
