Illicit Miners Allegedly Threaten to Kill Residents

Описание: GBENGBAR TOWN – Illicit sand miners have allegedly threatened to kill residents if they tried to remove them from a neighborhood along the Roberts International Airport highway.

Illegal sand mining resurfaced in the Seaview community, Gbengbar Town, after soldiers aided residents to stop the activities this May. But, this term, the miners are determined to stay—residents say—even if it means shedding blood.

“They threatened to kill my husband, burn our home, and rape our daughters,” said Zeowheh Sumo, a resident. “They have threatened the lives of people, ‘anybody who does not respect themselves and bring people here to put an end to sand mining.” Victor Sumo, her husband and a lecturer at the University of Liberia, corroborated her accusation.

The DayLight interviewed four more people who confirmed the miners’ threats against them. Garwool Baysah, who lives on the route to the illegal mine, found a charm at her doorstep one morning after quarrelling with the miners the previous day.

The miners deny threatening to harm anyone. They said they only returned insults residents rained at them. The allegations against them were a smear campaign meant to hide residents’ bad conduct and a lack of empathy.

“They only make up those stories to make us look bad. I already know we are fighting a war. If anything happens to you, they would accuse me of harming you. So, I will not have the mind to threaten you,” says Musu Fleming, a miner and single mother of six children.

The miners admit that their activities in Seaview are illegal, but blame poverty and unemployment.

“This is stealing we are doing here,” said Jacob Dolo, the ringleader of the illicit miners. “The hustle we are doing here is to send our children to school. We ourselves know the current situation of our country. There are no jobs, nothing,” added Dolo.

The illegal sand mine is located between the community and the beach. The miners have destroyed the mangroves and the marshes, and set a sand mine they call “Bloc 40.” Here, they transfer sand to a depository, using shovels and wheelbarrows through a duct they dug to the Atlantic Ocean.

While he spoke, other miners transported sand in wheelbarrows and uploaded it to pickup trucks. Drone had captured miners digging sand with shovels and their hands, and uploading it to the wheelbarrows.