About 50 persons have been arrested for allegedly felling trees and turning same to charcoal in some local government areas of Niger state, Daily Trust learnt on Monday.
Sources said the suspects were arrested last Tuesday by the special committee set up by the state government to check deforestation across the state.
The police in Minna however confirmed that 21 of such suspects were arrested.
Daily Trust recalls that the state government had in August 2018 vowed to strengthen existing environmental laws to curb tree felling and penalised anyone involved in sale of charcoal.
To this end, the state government convened an expanded security meeting which led to the setting up of a special committee on the matter.
Our correspondent learnt that seven of those arrested were from Mokwa local government, five from Bida while the rest according to sources were picked up from Katcha, Edati, and Lavun, local government areas.
Sources said the suspects were detained at the police stations in the affected local governments before they were moved to the Command headquarters in Minna.
The Command’s Public Relations Officer, DSP Muhammad Dan’Ina Abubakar confirmed the arrest of 21 suspects.
“They have been screened and the 21 have been charged to magistrate court 1 for violating the Niger state Forestry Law 2013”, he explained.
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