The Taraba State Special Taskforce Committee intercepted a shipment of illicit goods when its operatives halted a truck carrying 50 bags of iron monazite and 38 logs of Goska wood with an estimated value of N10 million.
The interception occurred on Thursday at a military checkpoint in Malum village of Ardo Kola Local Government Council of the state.
The driver of the truck, Shuaibu Abdullahi, who hails from Plateau State, revealed during an interview that the cargo originated from Serti-Baruwa in Gashaka Local Government Council and was destined for Lagos.
He also confessed that he received the items from a certain Hamza Isa in Serti-Baruwa, who entrusted him with transporting them to Lagos for further distribution.
In a related operation, the special task force also seized around 1,200 bags of charcoal valued at over N6 million along the Wukari-Bantaje-Sabongida axis of Taraba State.
This confiscation aligns with the ban imposed by Governor Agbu Kefas on tree-felling and illegal mining in the state.
The chairman of the Special Taskforce on Environmental Protection, Public Safety, and Prohibition of Deforestation in the state, Gen. Jeremiah Aliyu Faransa (retd) emphasised that the enforcement of the ban remains a top priority.
Faransa affirmed that anyone found violating the executive order would be apprehended and handed over to the mobile court