Five foreign nationals working at a gold mining site in Zamfara State have been abducted by armed bandits, raising fresh concerns over insecurity around mining operations in Nigeria’s North-West.
The victims, said to be nationals of Burkina Faso, were reportedly kidnapped around 11:15 a.m. on Friday when heavily armed gunmen stormed a mining site near Arafa village in Maru Local Government Area of the state.
According to security sources, the attackers, who were believed to have been hiding between Arafa and Gidan Dankande villages, invaded the site and forcefully whisked the workers away to an unknown destination.
A security analyst and counter-insurgency expert, Zagazola Makama, said the gunmen fled into the surrounding bush before troops from a nearby Operation Fansan Yamma base could arrive at the scene.
Makama noted that security personnel were deployed shortly after the attack but arrived after the assailants had already escaped with the victims.
Sources familiar with the security response said efforts were ongoing to track the abductors and secure the safe release of the foreign nationals.
According to the sources, security operatives have begun combing nearby forests and communities for intelligence that could lead to the rescue of the victims and arrest of the perpetrators.
The latest abduction has again drawn attention to the complex relationship between illegal mining activities and banditry in Zamfara and other parts of the North-West.
Security experts say the region’s rich mineral deposits, including gold, copper and lithium, have increasingly attracted both legitimate investors and criminal networks seeking to exploit the resources.
Local sources also alleged that some bandit leaders collect regular levies from miners operating in the area, a practice believed to have strengthened their grip on mining sites.
They claimed that while small-scale miners often face extortion, threats and attacks from armed groups, mining operations linked to powerful or politically connected individuals are rarely targeted.
Experts warned that the payments made to bandits often serve as a major funding source for criminal operations, enabling them to purchase weapons, organise kidnappings and recruit fighters.
The abduction of the five foreign miners, they added, reflects the growing criminal economy built around illegal mining activities in the region.
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