Lagos clamps down on illegal sand dredgers

The Lagos State Ministry of Waterfront Infrastructure Development has commenced a crackdown on illegal sand dredgers in the state’s waterways.

Officials of the Dredging and Monitoring Unit of the ministry and the Environmental and Special Offences Task Force commenced the clampdown in the Ikorodu area last Monday during which four dredgers were apprehended for engaging in illegal activities.

Also on Tuesday, the team arrested three employees of a company for engaging the services of an unlicensed dredger for their operations, while on Wednesday, three other persons were arrested for operating with a dredger without permit.

The suspects were subsequently arraigned before a magistrate for illegal dredging of sand and for operating without valid licences, to which they pleaded not guilty.

The magistrate, Mrs. Ndidi Johnson, granted them bail for N100,000 each with two sureties each, who must deposit N50,000 at the court and must be blood relations of the suspects and have landed property within the jurisdiction of the court.

The sureties, according to the magistrate, must also be employees of the Lagos State Government and must show evidence of tax payment.

Source: The Punch