EFCC Arrests Two Chinese, One Other For Allegedly Engaging In Illegal Mining In Ilorin

.. Nurse, Two Others Nabbed For Suspected Currency Racketeering

OPERATIVES of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have arrested two Chinese: Yang Chao, 39, and Xiao Jiang 38 for suspected illegal mining activities.

They were arrested alongside Chidi Joseph Osuji, 48, suspected to be an accomplice in the illegal business. 

Acting on intelligence, the suspects were trailed to their mining sites located at Ogunmakin and Ogere, Ogun State, where they were arrested after days of surveillance. 

Preliminary investigations showed that Chao and Chidi were working as Factory Manager and Machine Operator respectively with Cruis Chemical Nigeria Limited located at Ogunmakin in Ogun State, while Jiang works with John Odiba Multibiz as an Assistant Manager in Ogere, Ogun State.

The suspects, who operate as a cartel allegedly specialise in the illegal mining of minerals such as marble stone, white powder, lithium and lepidolite, among others, which they transport outside the country through illegitimate means for private gains. 

Investigations also linked the three suspects as owners of the solid minerals being conveyed by the 41 suspects arrested with truckloads of minerals at Share, Banni, Lade, Patigi and Okolowo in Kwara, and Igbeti and Ogbomosho in Oyo State by operatives of the Ilorin Zonal Command of the EFCC on 5th February 2024. They were arrested for engaging in mining activities without requisite licences.

In another development, the Ilorin Zonal Command of the EFCC has also arrested the trio of Sallah Asmau Wuraola, Owoduni Abdullahi Isa (a.k.a Bolaji) who are Point of Sale (PoS) cashiers and one Shuaibu Rukayat, a nurse from Ilorin South Local Government Area of Kwara State, for allegedly selling new Naira notes of different denominations to customers for commercial purposes.

The arrest of the suspects followed credible intelligence on elements selling new Naira notes to people at event centres, nightclubs, hotels and parties without due authorization. 

Wuraola and Rukayat were caught with the sum of One Million, Two Hundred and Twenty Thousand Naira (N1,220,000.00) only while Isa was arrested with the sum of One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira (N150,000.00) only.

The suspects would soon be charged in court, according to the anti-graft agency.  

Eighteen-Eleven Media