ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — At least 37 suspects arrested for alleged illegal mining were found dead in Nigerian security custody on Thursday, officials said, claiming a suspected disease outbreak was to blame.
But Dauda Shehu, a survivor of the incident, told The Associated Press that 65 detainees were packed into a poorly ventilated cell, suggesting the dead may have suffocated.
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Niger State Gov. Farmer Mohammed Umaru Bago said the 37 detainees died in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, or NSCDC, in north-central Niger state. He announced three days of mourning for the victims, his press secretary Bologi Ibrahim said in a statement.
They had been in detention since the security agency carried out arrests on Tuesday and Wednesday over suspicion of illegal mining in the state, head of the NSCDC in Niger Suberu Siyaka Aniviye said in a statement Thursday.
Aniviye said while the agency suspects a disease, the detainees’ bodies have been sent to a local hospital for “further medical examination to establish the actual cause of death.” He did not elaborate on the type of disease.
“We were jampacked and there was no ventilation for us to breathe well,” said Shehu, the survivor. “All of a sudden, we realized that we could not breathe and we started scrambling to get fresh air.”
Shehu, who spoke to The AP at the Minna General Hospital where the bodies were sent for examination, said the detainees tried to get the attention of the security agency’s guards by banging on the cell door.
Shafatu Sulaiman lost her two sons in the incident. Speaking to the AP at the Minna Hospital over their bodies, she pleaded for the government to intervene.
Police in Niger state said they have launched an investigation and urged relatives of the victims to come forward with any information that could help.
Illegal mining remains a challenge in Nigeria.
Analysts have linked illegal mining activities in Nigeria’s north-central and northwest regions to armed gangs involved in kidnappings for ransom, claiming groups receive funding from the illicit trade.
