The operatives of the Zamfara State Police Command have arrested six foreigners from Burkina Faso and Niger Republic in connection with illegal mining in the state.
The state Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Dalijan, disclosed this in Gusau on Wednesday while parading the suspects at the Command Headquarters.
Dalijan said that three suspects, who are from Burkina Faso, were arrested along Anka Local Government Area where the mining site of late bandits’ kingpin Halilu Sububu is located.
He said: “They are non-indigenes, they travelled from Burkina Faso to Nigeria purposely to do illegal mining.
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“They have been arrested with these chemicals, including CNI. As you know, CNI is a very dangerous chemical that is being used by criminals in many forms, but they are using it to extract gold.
“We are trying to find out where they keep their arms because we believe they are fully armed, they have taken over the mining pit of the late Halilu Buzu, and we want to find out their relationship.”
In a related development, the CP also noted that three additional illegal miners from Talata-Mafara local government were also arrested with many bags of mineral processing chemicals.
Dalijan said the Command also arrested three other foreigners from Niger Republic with three locally fabricated AK-47 rifles and AK-47 ammunition.
He said: “We have also arrested three people from the Niger Republic with fabricated AK-47 rifles but they used AK-47 magazines and ammunition, we are trying to find out who the manufacturers are.
“We are being threatened by our neighbors, some people from Burkina Faso and Niger coming here to commit all sorts of crimes, for some to leave Burkina Faso to come and enter our bush where our people cannot ordinarily enter, there is more to it.”
