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The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Niger State Command, has arrested a village head alongside 33 other suspects following a violent confrontation linked to illegal mining activities in Zuzungi, Katcha Local Government Area, which resulted in the death of a police officer and the destruction of an NSCDC patrol vehicle.
Briefing journalists on the development, the State Commandant, Suberu Siyaka Aniviye, said the arrests followed a coordinated security response after the unrest. He disclosed that several suspects were apprehended at the residence of the village head, where they were believed to have taken shelter after the clash.
According to Aniviye, a total of 34 suspects are currently in NSCDC custody. He explained that 19 of them were arrested at the village head’s home in Zuzungi Gwari, Kataeregi, while 15 others were intercepted while attempting to escape the area by road.
The commandant recounted that the incident occurred last Wednesday during a routine joint patrol involving NSCDC operatives, officers of the Nigeria Police Force, and a local security outfit at a mining site operated by Millennium Metals Mining Company.
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He said security personnel had intercepted individuals allegedly engaged in illegal mining and attempting to smuggle minerals from the site, but the suspects resisted arrest, triggering a violent confrontation.
“In the course of the attack, an NSCDC patrol Hilux vehicle was set ablaze by the assailants, while Police Constable Emmanuel Shamsi of the Nigeria Police Force tragically lost his life in the line of duty,” the commandant said.
Aniviye added that security operatives tactically withdrew from the scene to avoid further escalation and loss of lives, noting that investigations into the incident are ongoing.
The post NSCDC arrests village head, 33 others after deadly clash over illegal mining in Niger appeared first on Latest Nigeria News | Top Stories from Ripples Nigeria.
