In a sting operation led by the Cross River State Security Adviser, O. U. Obono, a retired Major General of the Nigerian Army, the Cross River State Government, CRSG, scores of young men suspected to be foreign miners who invaded some communities in Yakurr Local Government Area, were arrested Saturday morning as many of them attempted to evade an army checkpoint in Ugep.
The suspects, numbering 203, at press time, www.calitown.com can confirm, had boarded several empty trucks commuting through the area and bound for Calabar, the state capital.
Most of them, believed to be between the 12-26 age bracket, were caught with diggers, shovels, drilling machines and attendant earth drilling gear. Security men interrogating the suspects on the ground, confirmed to us that in their profiling, several of them confessed to being non-Nigerians, mostly from Chad, Niger and other countries in the Sahel area of Africa, even though most of them tried hard to claim to be Nigerians from Zamfara State in Nigeria’s North region.
Nigeria Immigration officials on the ground also confirmed to us that most of the suspects who claimed to be Nigerians, appear to have been briefed and prepared for any arrest eventuality by the faceless sponsors of this invasion.