The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Wednesday, June 4, 2025, arraigned two Chinese nationals, Zhang Hong Lin and Zhao Pei Hai, before Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, over alleged illegal mining and exportation of mineral resources.
The defendants were docked on a five-count charge bordering on unlawful possession and export of strategic solid minerals, including lithium, copper-bearing ores, and mica—critical components in global tech and energy industries.
The EFCC accused them of operating without authorisation and conspiring to defraud the Nigerian government of revenue generated from these mineral exports.
One of the charges reads: “That you, Zhang Hong Lin, Gao Pei Hai and Gao Pei Yu (now at large), sometime in 2025 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, conspired among yourselves and, with intent to defraud the Federal Government of Nigeria of revenue accruable from mineral exports, unlawfully exported Mica Products, Copper-bearing and Lithium-bearing mineral resources without the required permissions. You thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 8(a) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act, 1983 and punishable under Section 8 of the same Act.”
Upon the reading of the charges, both Zhang and Zhao pleaded not guilty.
Following their plea, prosecution counsel Bilkisu Buhari, who appeared alongside C.C. Okezie and H.U. Kofarnaisa, urged the court to fix a date for trial and order the remand of the accused persons in a Correctional Centre.
In response, defence counsel requested that his clients be held in EFCC custody instead, pending the determination of their bail application.
Justice Aneke, however, denied the defence’s request and ordered that the defendants be remanded in a Correctional Centre.
The court subsequently adjourned the case to July 4, 2025, for trial to commence.
The case adds to growing concerns over illegal mining activities by foreign nationals and the attendant loss of critical national revenue in Nigeria’s mining sector.
