The Head of Media and Publicity of the commission, Tony Orilade, in a statement said six of the suspects are the staff of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, .
He said the second suspect, Mr Mannir, who was arrested on board an Emirates flight to Dubai on March 1 at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, was allegedly ‘helped’ by the third to eight defendants, who are employees of FAAN. The defendants pleaded “not guilty” to the charge preferred against them. Given their pleas, the prosecuting counsel, Ayanfe Ogunsina asked the court for a trial date and prayed that the defendants be remanded in prison.
The statement added the defence counsels, in an application dated April 8, 2019, also prayed the court to grant their clients bail in the most liberal terms.
In as much as this might be condemned in the eyes of the law,I wonder how many people have been arrested in the several years of illegal mining of raw gold in Zamfara state.Many lives have been lost ...it's sad!