50-year old truck driver jailed for illegal mining in Kwara
Ilorin Zonal EFCC Secures Conviction of Truck Driver for Mineral Possession
The Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has successfully prosecuted 50-year-old truck driver Kasimu Bawa from Wukari Local Government Area, Taraba State, for unlawful possession of minerals valued at 2.4 million naira.
Justice Abimbola Awogboro of the Federal High Court in Ilorin sentenced Bawa to two years in prison after finding him guilty of the charge filed by the EFCC. Bawa was the driver of a truck allegedly used to transport minerals purchased without a license by Gang Deng, a Chinese national convicted and sentenced to five years in prison on October 19, 2022, by the same court.
Bawa was apprehended by EFCC operatives on September 9, 2022, in Share, along Tsaragi Road, Edu Local Government Area, while transporting 25 tons of suspected illegally mined minerals. He was arraigned on November 1, 2022, facing a one-count charge of possession of minerals without lawful authority.
The charge against Bawa stated that he unlawfully possessed 25 tons of minerals worth 2.498 million naira, conveyed in a DAF truck with registration number KEY 777ZF and chassis number KLRAD85XCOE603462.
Bawa pleaded not guilty, prompting a full trial in which the prosecution called two witnesses, including Ifarinde Odeyemi, a Chief Remote Sensing Officer of the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency, and the investigating officer. The defense also presented two witnesses, including the defendant himself.
During the proceedings, Odeyemi testified that laboratory analysis of the seized minerals confirmed they were lepidolite, a lithium-bearing mineral. In closing arguments, prosecuting counsel Innocent Mbachie requested a conviction, asserting that the case had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt, and sought the forfeiture of both the truck and the minerals to the Federal Government.
Justice Awogboro ultimately found Bawa guilty, sentencing him to two years in prison or a fine of 5 million naira. The court further ordered the forfeiture of the truck and the minerals to the Federal Government.
