Over 100 illegal miners have been arrested in Yakurr Local Government Area of Cross River State.

The miners were arrested in a sting operation reportedly led by the Cross River State Security Adviser, Maj. General (retd) O. U. Obono.

The illegal miners, suspected to be foreigners, were arrested on Saturday morning as they attempted to evade an army checkpoint in Ugep.

The suspects were said to have boarded several empty trucks commuting through the area from the northern part of the state and were bound for Calabar, the state capital.

The majority of them are said to be between the ages of 12 and 26 and were apprehended with diggers, shovels, drilling machines, and attendant earth drilling gear.

Security personnel who interrogated the suspects on the ground confirmed that, in their profiling, several of them confessed to being non-Nigerians.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, SP Irene Ugbo, said she had not been briefed on the arrest.

Cross River State has been besieged in recent times by a large number of foreign miners who come to illegally exploit natural resources in its forests.

Last year, Bette Philip Obi, a member representing Boki 1 State Constituency, raised an alarm as over 1,000 illegal miners had invaded his community.

The lawmaker revealed this at the Cross River State House of Assembly while sponsoring a matter of Urgent Public Importance on the encroachment of foreign miners in Okwa 1 and 2 and Ukwango communities in Boki Local Government Area. (Saturday Sun)

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