During a clearance exercise last week, the mine marshals took the suspects into custody.

In the Yagba East Local Government Area of Kogi State’s Jaguna, off the Iye/Odogbe towns, at least seven alleged unlicensed miners have been taken into custody.

This was said in a statement made on Saturday in Abuja by Segun Tomori, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development’s Special Assistant on Media. Tomori noted that the arrest came after the suspects refused to leave the mining site despite warnings from the Marshals.

He emphasised that the operations of armed illegal miners had prevented the legitimate holders of mining licenses from accessing the site for more than 16 years.

A portion of the statement says, “On July 15, 2024, the Mining Marshals stormed the Jaguna mine site. They arrested some labourers there and told them to leave within five days.

The illegal miners organised more labourers and defended the location with armed guards instead of following the directive. This prompted the Mining Marshals’ most recent operation to remove them.

The subsequent action was required because the illegal miners disregarded the traditional leaders of the community’s pleas to leave the place. This was done to provide unrestricted access to the region for authorised operations for the licensed mineral titleholders.

Because of the actions of armed illegal miners, legitimate holders of mining licenses have been unable to access the site for more than 16 years.

“The Mining Marshals, acting on intelligence reports indicating that the illegal operators had persisted in their defiance, successfully cleared the area last week by storming the site, neutralising the armed guards’ resistance.”