The 26-year-old deceased was from Chanchaga area of Minna, the state capital.
Samson Emmanuel has been identified as the policeman killed by illegal miners at Zuzungi near Kataeregi in the Bosso Local Government Area of Niger State.
The 26-year-old deceased was from Chanchaga area of Minna, the state capital.
The incident occurred last Wednesday during an ambush on a joint patrol by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Nigeria Police Force (NPF), and the local Anti-Drugs Control (ADC) outfit around a mining site.
The patrol reportedly intercepted individuals engaged in illegal mining and attempting to smuggle minerals from the site.
“A police officer was killed, his rifle taken, and other officers injured during the incident. The illegal miners included some Chinese nationals,” a policeman told naijatrendcompass.
Earlier, the State Commandant of the NSCDC confirmed the attack, describing it as “criminal, barbaric, and a direct assault on constituted authority and Nigeria’s economic stability”.
This comes a few days after a bill was presented to the US Congress by five Republican lawmakers on illegal mining in Nigeria.
The bill, titled “Nigeria Religious Freedom and Accountability Act of 2026”, linked Chinese illegal mining to terrorism funding in Nigeria.
According to the lawmakers, the bill seeks to address what they described as ongoing religious persecution and mass atrocities in Nigeria.
They argued that Chinese nationals involved in “illegal mining” operations are paying terrorists for protection.
“The Secretary of State should work with the Government of Nigeria to counteract the hostile foreign exploitation of Chinese illegal mining operations and their destabilising practice of paying protection money to Fulani militias,” part of the bill reads.
The bill states that militant groups have been engaged in organised attacks on civilian communities, particularly in the Middle Belt region.
Chinese illegal mining operations, it said, are fueling religious violence and have resulted in the deaths of thousands of Christians in the country.
“These militias have conducted attacks involving targeted killings, hostage-taking, hijackings, armed assaults, massacres of civilians, destruction of property, and forced displacement of the local population”.
