Interpol arrests 200 people in a macro-operation against illegal mining in four African countries

MADRID Jan. 14 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) announced this Tuesday the arrest of 200 people as part of a macro-operation against illegal mining in Burkina Faso, Gambia, Guinea and Senegal, which has also led to the seizure of significant quantities of chemicals.

“Transnational criminal networks exploit mineral resources around the world, damaging the environment, national economies, weakening fragile communities and endangering public health and safety,” Interpol Secretary General Valdecy stressed in a statement. Urquiza.

The so-called ‘Operation Sanu’, carried out between July and October 2024, has had the collaboration of the national security agencies of the countries involved and has made it possible to seize 150 kilograms of cyanide, another 325 kilograms of activated carbon, 14 cylinders of mercury, 20 liters of nitric acid and two 57 liter containers of sulfuric acid.

Likewise, 10 kilograms of cocaine and almost 7,000 explosive devices have been seized. As part of the investigations, large quantities of opioid pills, frequently used by miners to relieve pain caused by the use of chemicals such as mercury and cyanide, have also been confiscated.

51 MINERS KILLED IN SOUTH AFRICA

The announcement coincides with the arrest in South Africa of 82 people for illegal mining, trespassing and violation of immigration law within the framework of the investigations opened in a mine near the town of Stilfontein, in the northwest of the country.

As reported by the Police, the South African authorities have managed to recover at least 51 bodies this Tuesday, while another 66 have been rescued alive as a result of the dispute that hundreds of illegal miners have been involved in for a month, many of them undocumented immigrants. , confined in a mine gallery.

To date, more than 1,500 people involved in illegal mining have been arrested. The authorities have tried to cut off the supply of water and food to force them to the surface. In total, it is estimated that hundreds of miners could be hiding underground.

The South African government has launched an initiative known as Operation Vala Umgodi (‘Plug the hole’) against ‘zama-zama’ (‘Take your risk’, in the Zulu language) miners, who often enter abandoned mines in South Africa to extract traces of minerals left inside, a practice that represents enormous losses for the South African authorities.