460 illegal mining sites uncovered, 387 arrested, says NSCDC

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps says it uncovered and dismantled 460 illegal mining sites and arrested 387 suspects in 14 months.
The commander of the NSCDC mining marshals, Attah Onoja, said this in an interview on Wednesday in Abuja.
Mr Onoja said 146 persons had been charged.
“The lawful mineral title holders of these recovered sites have taken possession of their sites for lawful mining activity, thereby generating revenue for the Federal Government,” he said.
According to him, 25 per cent of the arrested suspects are foreigners.
He also mentioned that the squad had adopted 28 ‘clearance operations’ in environments with armed bandits, areas with threats of resistance and intelligence reports about dangerous attacks based on past incidents.
“In carrying out this clearance operation, we ensure to maintain an operational standard that will give you results without necessarily having casualties, either from our own troops or the adversaries,” he said.
The commander emphasised that the operations of the mining marshals were carefully planned and executed through thorough intelligence and surveillance activities.
“It is the report of our intelligence and surveillance operation that determines the operational strategy to adopt, so while we identify illegal mining sites through intelligence and surveillance operation and at times through written petitions by displaced mineral title holders or license holders.
“There are some that warrant or demand clearance operation, especially illegal mining sites that are characterised by banditry or terrains that have no form of government presence.
“Terrains where you get to and you will not even know the country you are in because it is not close to any normal environment. Sometimes you access this terrain through motorcycles for hours and such operations do require diplomacy,” he said.
(NAN)
We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.
More from Peoples Gazette

Agriculture
FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology
The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Politics
Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku
“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

States
Man arraigned over alleged N316,000 fraud
The police prosecutor told the court that the defendant committed the offences on April 27 at 4.30 p.m in Ado-Ekiti.

Education
ABU students win final of Huawei ICT skills competition in China
The six-day competition was held from May 20 to May 25.

States
Foreign mercenaries helping Boko Haram, ISWAP terrorists, Nigerian Army says
”It suffices to mention that the foreign mercenaries facilitate tactical and strategic training for these terrorists,” the army said.

NationWide
Tinubu urged to rebrand Nigeria Police Force, raise minimum entry-level requirements
“As far as many Nigerians are concerned, the police force is not only moribund, but a large percentage of its personnel are branded as corrupt,” said Mr Daudu.

Lagos
Truck with faulty brake rams into vehicles, kills three
A cement truck with no registration number, heading to the tollgate from Sango-Ota, had a brake failure and rammed into four vehicles.

States
At least three killed in Ondo cult clash
The clash that started on Monday evening and continued on Tuesday left many people wounded, said the police.