The Security Task Force and officers of the Nigerian Army have arrested 26 illegal miners in Laje, Ondo town, during an operation carried on the 8th of September, 2024.
The security task force had last month arrested 12 illegal miners in various parts of the state.
Addressing newsmen during the handing over of the suspects at the 32 Artillery Brigade, Owena Cantonment of the Army, the State Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Engr. Rasaq Obe, noted that the arrest of the illegal miners is to prevent future disasters.
According to him, the illegal miners would become the terrorists, kidnappers, killers, rapers in the bushes. He added that the men of the Nigerian Army are stepping in proactively in the bushes, weeding the illegal miners out.
He said: “anywhere there is illegal mining, there will be banditry; they acquire arms, kidnapping becomes convenient. They exist in the shadow.
“They also affect farmers because they constitute a direct security threat, they degrade the environment and pollute our waters. Illegal mining is abhorrent to any civilised environment”.
He noted that Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa is more than pleased that the arrest took place, stressing the Governor would leave no stone unturned in eradicating illegal mining in theState.
Obe, who warned other illegal miners that all of them would soon be arrested, commended the officers of the Army for their intervention, expressing his confidence that in no time, there would be nothing like illegal miners in Ondo State.
The Commissioner commended the efforts of the coordinator of the security task force, Mr. Gbenga Atiba, who is the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Security Matters, and his team in fishing out the illegal miners.
He also appreciated other security agencies and relevant stakeholders for their efforts in ensuring that illegal miners have no place in the State, urging the people of the State to report any traces of illegal miners around them for proper intervention.
One of the arrested miners, a 20-year old Suleiman Hassan from Zamfara State, stated that the operation where he was arrested was his first time mining gold illegally in Ondo State. He noted that he was brought into the business by Alhaji Abdullahi and Alhaji Sule, both who are on the run.
