Court sentences Chinese national to 5 years imprisonment for illegal mining in Kwara

The federal high court sitting in Ilorin has sentenced Gang Deng, a 29-year-old Chinese national, to five years in prison over offences bordering on illegal mining and possession of minerals without lawful authority.

In September, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested Deng over alleged illegal mining in Ilorin, the Kwara capital.

The anti-graft agency said that the Chinese national was found with a truckload of minerals suspected to be lepidolite.

Subsequently, the EFCC charged Deng and Sinuo Xinyang Nigeria to court on offences bordering on illegal possession of solid minerals.

“That you, Sinuo Xinyang Nigeria Ltd and Gang Deng, sometime in the month of September 2022 at Share, along Tsaragi Road in Edu local government area of Kwara State, within the jurisdiction of the federal high court, without lawful authority purchased mineral to wit, 25 Tons of mineral worth the sum of N2,490,000.00 (two million, four hundred and ninety thousand naira) conveyed in a DAF Truck, with registered number KLRAD85XCOE603462 and thereby committed an offence, contrary and punishable under Section 1 (8) (b) of Miscellaneous Offences Act 1984,” the charge reads in part.

On Wednesday, EFCC, in a statement by Wilson Uwujaren, its spokesperson, said the Chinese national pleaded guilty to the charge but entered a “not guilty plea” for his company.

The counsel to the Chinese national pleaded clemency on the grounds that the convict was a first offender.

Muhammed Sani, the judge, sentenced Deng to five years imprisonment with the option of N1 million fine.

The judge also ordered that the 25 tonnes of the mineral recovered from him be forfeited to the federal government.

Meanwhile, the court adjourned hearing in the case involving Deng’s company till November 17, 2022.