Eighteen suspected illegal miners have been intercepted by the police anti-illegal mining squad in Zamfara state.
They have also being arraigned in court for contravening a presidential order which bans illegal mining activities across the country.
According to the statement by the Police Spokesperson in Zamfara SP Shehu Muhammad said, the IGP anti-illegal mining team led by SP Murtala Bello had been actively working round the clock and raiding illegal mining camps across the state.
SP Shehu said, operation against illegal mining in Zamfara had commenced since September 2020 when the tactical team raided numerous illegal mining sites at different locations in the state and succeeded in the arrest of many illegal miners alongside formidable exhibits.
Some illegal mining camps raided by the squad according to the statement include that of Kwali in Bukkuyum, Dakitakwas in Gummi, Zugu and Wawan If he in Bukkuyum and Anka local governments areas of the state amongst several others.
“The recent operations conducted by the anti-illegal mining team was at ‘Yan Kaura mining site in Maru local government area where villagers from different parts of the state converged and embarked on illegal mining activities”.
The eighteen suspects arrested during the operation were investigated and prosecuted in court for litigation.
During the operations, numerous number of exhibits were recovered that included, 504 bags of different chemicals used in refining Gold, one Lexus Jeep, one Meter Director, one Professional Digital Table Top Scale, 14 bags of processing sand suspected to be Gold amongst others.
