Some youths in Ondo State, especially Owo local government have begun search for the mining site where 15 persons were caught mining gold illegally.
It was gathered some rich individuals from Ondo State have provided funding for the search of gold.
Men of the Ondo State Security Network known as the Amotekun Corps had stumbled on activities of illegal gold miners in Owo forest reserve.
The illegal gold miners were caught operating in 50 different locations.
Commander of Ondo Amotekun, Chief Adetunji Adeleye, while parading the suspects, said: “Nobody would have believed that Ondo state have this quality of gold until we got to the locations where the gold robbers were living and performing illegal mining. Beyond the arrest, the culprits will be prosecuted.”
Kabiru Shuaib who said he hails from Kebbi State described the Ondo gold as of very high quality.
Shuaib however said the extracted gold is sent to their boss in Kebbi State who sells the products and pays them later.
“The gold in the land is of very high quality gold. Mostly we get 25 carats, 20 carats sometimes we get 15 carats gold. And we make good money,” he stated.
But sources told The Nation the location of the mining site has been kept under wrap to avoid possible communal conflict and the race to extract the gold.
One of the youths, who pleaded anonymity, told some select journalists they have gone to different parts of Owo forest reserve but their trips were unsuccessful.
The youth said it was a slap on them for miners from other state to locate gold on their land while the indigenes were not aware.
According to him: “Can we go to Zamfara and start mining their gold? We cannot do that. These boys entered our forest and took the gold that belongs to us. We must find the location no matter what it will take.
“Some politicians and businessmen are supporting us. We don’t know why government is keeping the location a secret. Those people have made lots of money from our gold freely given to us by God.”
