At least 33 illegal mining suspects found dead in Nigerian custody with officials blaming disease

At least 33 suspects arrested for alleged illegal mining were found dead in Nigerian security custody on Thursday (September 17, 2026), officials said, claiming a suspected disease outbreak was to blame.

But Dauda Shehu, a survivor of the incident, said that 65 detainees were packed into a poorly ventilated cell, suggesting the dead may have suffocated.

The detainees died in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, or NSCDC, in north-central Niger state, its spokesperson Abubakar Muti said.

They had been in detention since the security agency carried out arrests on Tuesday and Wednesday (September 15-16) over suspicion of illegal mining in the state, head of the NSCDC in Niger Suberu Siyaka Aniviye said in a statement.