By Udesinanna Stephen
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arrested 13 Chinese Nationals for “illegal” mining in Ilorin, Kwara State.
EFCC revealed this in a statement on its Twitter handle @officialEFCC.
According to the statement, the suspects who comprised a female and 12 males, due to an intelligence report, were arrested at the Government Reserved Area, G.R.A Ilorin.
They added that their offences include but are not limited to, illegal mining and non-payment of royalties to the Federal Government as required by the law.
“Prior to their arrest, discrete investigations on the activities of illegal mining operators in Kwara State revealed that the operators have different illegal mining sites in almost all the 16 Local Government Areas of the state.
“Upon interrogation, the suspects confessed to be workers of a Chinese Company known as ‘W. Mining Global Service Limited’ is situated at Olayinka in the Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State.
“It was gathered that the company was using the illegally mined granite to produce marble for sale locally in Nigeria. Findings also revealed that some of the suspects working in the said company were without ‘work permit’, but only entered Nigeria with visitor’s visa.” EFCC noted.