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INVESTIGATION | SILENT LOOT | Exposing the dark alliances: Illegal mining, complicit authorities and shadowy sponsors

In Kakanfu, Pategi Local Government Area of Kwara State, Nigeria, hundreds of illegal miners with hard drugs, guns and explosives dig underground in a large-scale search for Lithium with no oversight and few safety measures.

Security operatives and local authorities take bribes to turn a blind eye to - and also aid - this illegal activity, according to sources and evidence found by The Informant247 in this investigation by SALIHU Ayatullahi.

Deaths and injuries are common and the mining activities expose local communities to several levels of toxic metals and severe environmental degradation.

This investigation also traced and revealed one of the biggest buyers and sponsors of the illegally extracted mineral: a powerful Chinese-owned company that has over the years been evading and underpaying taxes.