Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, on Friday arrived at the Niger State Government House in Minna following the deaths of 37 suspected illegal miners in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

The minister’s visit comes as pressure mounts on authorities to explain the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the detainees.

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Tunji-Ojo is expected to meet with officials of the Niger State Government as part of his visit to the state.

He is also expected to proceed to the detention centre where the suspected illegal miners were held before their deaths.

The incident has sparked public concern and protests in Minna, with residents demanding answers over the deaths of the detainees while in government custody.

The Federal Government has ordered an investigation into the incident, while the Niger State NSCDC commandant has been suspended pending the outcome of the probe.

Details shortly…….

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has demanded justice and transparency over the deaths of 37 suspected illegal miners while in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Niger State.

Atiku, in a statement posted on X on Friday, said he was “deeply saddened and profoundly disturbed” by the deaths, stressing that those who died were human beings whose families expected the state to protect their lives and dignity while in custody.

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He said no Nigerian should enter government custody and lose the fundamental right to life.

Atiku commended the Federal Government for suspending the officers under whose watch the tragedy occurred and ordering a full investigation, describing the action as an important first step.

However, the former vice president called for the investigation to be independent, thorough and transparent, with its findings made public.

He further demanded that anyone found responsible through action, abuse or negligence be held fully accountable.
According to Atiku, the families of the deceased deserve more than condolences, saying they deserve the truth and justice.

He also called for assurances that being held in government custody would never become a “death sentence,” while expressing sympathy with the bereaved families and praying for strength and comfort for them.

“My heart goes out to the bereaved families. I pray that God grants them strength and comfort in this painful hour, and that the truth is established without delay,” Atiku said.

Nigeria has joined 10 other countries in a global counter-terrorism operation coordinated by the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), in which artificial intelligence was used to help identify 126 Foreign Terrorist Fighters.

Known as Operation Shams II, the five-day operation was conducted from June 1 to 5, 2026, in Tunis, Tunisia, and brought together 28 specialised officers and experts from 11 countries.

According to INTERPOL, law enforcement officers extracted 108,076 facial images from visual content published by jihadist groups during the operation.

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Programmed AI agents and advanced AI-generated scripts were then used to automate parts of the data collection and investigative process, including deduplicating and quality-checking the images.

The technology helped narrow the dataset to 6,362 unique, high-quality facial images, which were subsequently processed through INTERPOL’s Facial Recognition System.

INTERPOL said the AI-generated results were reviewed and verified by trained officers and analysts in accordance with its Rules on the Processing of Data.

“To date, 126 Foreign Terrorist Fighters have been identified from the images processed during Operation Shams II,” the organisation said.

INTERPOL explained that the matches would help enrich existing intelligence on the suspects, including information on their potential locations and social networks.

The intelligence is now being integrated into INTERPOL’s global databases as part of efforts to detect, track and disrupt terrorist movements worldwide.

The operation also received a large intelligence dataset related to terrorism suspects from officers at INTERPOL’s National Central Bureau in Baghdad, Iraq.

INTERPOL said hundreds more images were extracted from the dataset for processing.

Investigative leads generated during the operation are already being used to support judicial procedures in participating countries, including a case involving two currently detained suspected Foreign Terrorist Fighters.

INTERPOL said thousands of additional images are still awaiting processing, meaning further comparisons could produce additional investigative leads.

Beyond facial recognition, Operation Shams II also deployed cryptocurrency tools to trace illicit funding.

According to INTERPOL, the effort resulted in three urgent requests to a Virtual Asset Service Provider for customer data aimed at disrupting terrorist financing flows.

Participating countries also engaged representatives of the online gaming industry on the issue of youth radicalisation in online environments, with discussions focused on strengthening cooperation and information sharing.

INTERPOL Director of Counter-Terrorism, María Carmen Muñoz González, said the operation demonstrated the value of combining international law-enforcement cooperation with responsible AI-assisted analytical capabilities.

The participating countries were Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Iraq, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Qatar, Tajikistan, Tunisia and Uzbekistan.

INTERPOL said Operation Shams II was carried out under the CT TECH+ Project, funded by the European Union’s Foreign Policy Instruments and supported by the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism.