Kwara: EFCC arrests seven suspected illegal miners

Operatives of the Ilorin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, have arrested seven suspects for offences bordering on illegal mining activities.

Two others were also arrested for offering N1.2 million bribe to compromise the operatives of the anti-graft agency, according to a statement by Dele Oyewale, spokesman of the Commission on Wednesday.

The arrest, sequel to credible intelligence and days of surveillance, was carried out on Friday, May 24, 2024 at Ogbomosho, Oyo State.

The suspects are Waliyu Abidoye, Abubakar Auwal, Abdulrauf Hakim, Sabiu Usman, Salihu Godwin, Dauda Mohammed and Olalekan Aremu.

The statement disclosed that at the point of arrest, five truckloads of assorted minerals suspected to be lepidolite, lithium and precious stone among others were recovered from the suspects.

“Investigations revealed that the suspects were not licensed miners and did not have the requisite authority to purchase and possess the minerals. They were also not paying royalties to the Federal and States Governments, as required by law.”

The Commission also arrested two other persons, Faleti Waheed and Noah Olalekan, who allegedly offered N1.2 million bribe to the operatives in order to secure the release of one of the seized trucks.

“The duo of Waheed and Olalekan approached the EFCC operatives at the point of arrest and negotiated to give them money in order to have their seized truck released. The officers played along and got the suspects arrested at the point of delivering the money.

“The sum of N995,500 was recovered from Waheed who claimed to be a manager at a filling station in Ogbomosho while the sum of N201,000, was recovered from Olalekan who claimed to be a scavenger.”

The suspects will be arraigned in court upon conclusion of ongoing investigations, the statement added.