Niger state: 37 suspected illegal miners die in Nigerian custody

Thirty-seven people accused of illegal mining in north-central Nigeria have died in custody, local officials said.

Police have set up an investigation into the deaths, which the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) blamed on an apparent disease outbreak.

However, an intelligence report shared with AFP news agency suggested the group died because of overcrowding and poor ventilation inside the detention facility in the Nigerian state of Niger.

State governor Mohammed Umaru Bago called the deaths "sad and tragic" during a press conference on Thursday.

An NSCDC commander has been detained following the deaths, Bago added.

He declared three days of mourning and postponed the start of campaigning for elections scheduled for January.

Officials had arrested the group of young men on Tuesday for suspected illegal mining near Borgu, in the mineral-rich state of Niger. The region is known for small-scale gold mining.

Two days later, 37 people detained as part of the suspected unlawful operation were found dead inside the detention centre run by the NSCDC.

The NSCDC had earlier said the detainees were possibly victims of a diphtheria outbreak, a serious bacterial infection that can be fatal.

But the agency's national headquarters later said the cause had not been established and would require medical and laboratory tests.

"The NSCDC wishes to clarify that reports attributing the deaths to any specific disease remain subject to medical and laboratory confirmation," it added in a statement.

A survivor told the Associated Press news agency that about 65 people had been held in an overcrowded and poorly ventilated cell, suggesting the dead may have suffocated.

Some relatives of the deceased have disputed the official explanation of events, claiming to local media that they were deliberately killed.

One father told Nigerian media that his son had appeared healthy when relatives brought him food the day before his death and called for an independent post-mortem examination.

Another relative, whose 17-year-old brother was among those who died, said the family had visited him during his detention and questioned how a disease could have killed so many detainees without apparently affecting their guards.

Post-mortem examinations are expected to help establish what happened.

Niger's police chief ordered an immediate investigation into "the unfortunate death of suspected illegal miners while in the detention facility of the NSCDC", spokesman Wasiu Abiodun wrote in a statement.

The victim's bodies have since been taken to the general hospital in nearby Minna for examination.

The scramble for gold reserves dug up in illegal mines in Niger state has been blamed for fuelling criminal gang violence, according to officials and experts.

Much of the gold in the region is trafficked through global supply chains, a 2024 SwissAid report found.

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