From Aniekan Aniekan, Calabar
The Cross River State Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Charles Brown says the command arrested 126 vandals and illegal hoggers in the state last year.
The state Commandant disclosed this in an interview in his office in Calabar while giving an insight into their activities in 2024.
He also stated that 18 of the suspects are serving jail terms while several other cases are still in court.
On the upsurge of illegal miners into the state, he said the command is collaborating with sister agencies to address the menace.
“On illegal mining, we are working closely with sister agencies to tackle this challenge holistically.
“Recently, they came into the the state with a lot of people and we sent a message to the State Security Adviser and in partnership with other agencies we were able to round them up and send them back”, he said.
He said the miners have posed a major threat to the locals as they cannot access their farms and assured that the no effort will be spared in addressing the challenge.