Tunji Wusu –
13 Chinese nationals have been detained by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) agents in Ilorin, Kwara State, for offenses related to unlawful mining activities.
In a statement released on Thursday, the head of the anti-graft agency’s media and publicity division, Wilson Uwujaren, stated that in the previous eight months, the EFCC’s Ilorin Zonal Command had impounded 24 truckloads of various minerals and detained no less than 80 illegal operators.
Additionally, it was stated that the act violated and was penalized by Section 1(8)(b) of the Miscellaneous Offenses Act, Cap. M17, 1983.
The suspects—a female and 12 males—were apprehended on July 12, 2023, at the Government Reserved Area (G.R.A.) in Ilorin as a result of reliable information about their unlawful mining and failure to pay royalties to the federal government as required by law.
Guo Ya Wang (age 36), Lizli Hui (age 42), Guo Jian Rong (age 36), Lizh Shen Xianian (age 37), Lishow Wu (age 26), Guo Pan (age 38), Lia Meiyu (age 53), Guo Kai Quan (age 36), and Lin Pan (age 50) are the suspects.
Ma Jan (age 38), Wendy Wei Suqin (age 31), Li Zhinguo Wei (age 29), and Xie Zhinguo (age 53) are the others.
Separate investigations into the operations of illegal mining operators in Kwara State prior to their arrest found that the operators have several illicit mining locations in nearly all of the state’s 16 local government areas.
The detained individuals admitted under questioning that they were employees of W. Mining Global Service Limited, a Chinese company with offices in Olayinka, Ifelodun Local Government Area, Kwara State. It was learned that the business produced marble using oil that had been illegally extracted and sold it locally in Nigeria. Findings also showed that several of the suspects employed by the aforementioned company had no “work permit” and had simply flown from China to Abuja with a “visit permit” before driving to Ilorin.
Upon completion of the ongoing investigations, the suspects would be arraigned in court.
Recall how Abdulkarim Chukkol, the acting executive chairman of the EFCC, bemoaned the actions of illegal mining operators, calling them as a serious danger to the regional and national economies, on Thursday, July 6, 2023 at a one-day media training for journalists in Kwara State.
The EFCC’s Ilorin Zonal Command has detained no fewer than 80 unlawful operators over the past eight months, and 24 truckloads of various minerals have been seized.
Chinese national Dang Deng, managing director of Sinuo Xinyang Nigeria Ltd., was detained by the EFCC’s Ilorin Zonal Command on September 10, 2022, for having 25 tons of various crude minerals in his possession. On October 19, 2022, he was found guilty before Justice Mohammed Sani of the Federal High Court, Ilorin.
The EFCC had previously issued a warning that it will be uncompromising in its fight against corruption, just as it is going all out to dismantle the networks of illegal mining operations across the nation.
