The EFCC says it arrested two Chinese nationals and a Nigerian for illegal mining.

Making the disclosure in a statement on its official X handle on Sunday, the anti-graft agency identified the Chinese as Yang Chao and Xiao Jiang while their Nigerian accomplice was identified as Joseph Osuji.

According to the EFCC, 39 year old Messrs Yang, 39, and Osuji, 48, work as a factory manager and machine operator respectively with Cruis Chemical Nigeria Limited in Ogun.

Mr Xiao is an assistant manager at John Odiba Multibiz, also in Ogun.

According to the agency the suspects illegally mined minerals such as marble stone, white powder, lithium and lepidolite, smuggling them out of the country.

The three suspects were also linked to the ownership of the solid minerals conveyed by 41 suspects recently arrested by the EFCC with truckloads of minerals at Share, Banni, Lade, Patigi and Okolowo in Kwara, and Igbeti and Ogbomosho in Oyo.

“Acting on intelligence, the suspects were trailed to their mining sites located at Ogunmakin and Ogere, Ogun state, where they were arrested after days of surveillance,” the EFCC statement said.