Four Chinese and 16 others were yesterday arrested in connection with illegal mining at Echara Unuhu in Abakaliki local government area of Ebonyi state. Those arrested were four Chinese expatriates and 16 other persons working for the mining company.
The Senior Special Assistant to Governor Dave Umahi on Internal Security, Dr. Kenneth Ugbala, who addressed journalists at the mining site, expressed shock on the activities of the miners which he said has created environmental problem to the state. “The future of this state is at stake because of the activities of these illegal miners. I have the privileged of being in China and Chinese don’t tamper with their environment, no matter what the problem may be.
With the type of problem created here in the name of mining, it is possible that this tunnel they created must have passed to Government House,” he said. On her part, Special Adviser to the Governor on Solid Mineral Development, Mrs. Nwakaego Nworie, said she had visited the site with geological experts and that the miners only allowed them to see the premises and prevented them from going round the whole site.
“I became very curious and insisted that I must see the whole site. I moved down inside the site. I got to a place a soldier blocked me and threatened to shoot me if I passed him. The soldier told me, ‘don’t go to that extreme’. That day, I saw the tunnel even though I was prevented from going closer to it,” she said. One of the suspects, Nnamdi Peter, who hailed from Enugu, said he worked in the mining tunnel for three months.
