For illegally mining solid minerals in Kwara State, Chinese nationals Yang Chao and Wu Shan Chuan were sentenced to two years in prison. However, the court offered them fine options which could help them avoid the jail term.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) shared details of the sentencing on Monday. Justice Abimbola Awogboro of the Federal High Court in Ilorin convicted Chao and Chuan on Friday.

The convicts were ordered to remit N14 million in royalties to the federal government and all solid minerals found on the premises of their company, located at No. 1, Idi Ope Road, along Ogunmakin-Odede Road, Omi, Ogun State, forfeited to the government.

READ ALSO: Chinese Man Found With Truckload of Illegally Mined Minerals in Ilorin

They were prosecuted on a one-count charge that reads: “That you, Yang Chao, Wu Shan Chuan, and Crius Chemical Nigeria Limited, sometime in March 2024, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, engaged in dealing with minerals without lawful authority, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 134(b) of the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act, 2007.”

After they pleaded “guilty” to the charge against them, the presiding judge gave the sentence: either two years imprisonment each or N1 million fine respectively.

The N1 million fine was equally extended to the company.

In 2024, FIJ’s Sodeeq Atanda went undercover and found that some locations in Kwara and Oyo States were hotspots for illegal mining activities.

READ ALSO: UNDERCOVER: No Mercy in Daba, Where Armed Gangs and Chinese Illegal Miners Flourish

The investigation uncovered how armed gangs and Chinese illegal miners flourished in these locations, with little to nothing done to curb their activities. Their central role, as uncovered in the report, was to collect the minerals mined through local dealers.

Even though several of these Chinese miners and local collaborators have been arrested over the years, it has not stopped illegal mining in the country. This could be because the majority of those who are convicted get either one or two years or an option of a fine.

But the Miscellaneous Offences Act, the law under which the miners are often charged, recommends life imprisonment for anyone found guilty of unlawful mining.