(Rapaport…August 30, 2005) Police in Angola have arrested 89 illegal diamond prospectors in the central Bie province according to the state run Angola Press.
Provincial commander of the national police in Bie, Joao Kale, said that the detained had been captured in a routine operation that the police force had carried out in the area.
Among the arrested diamond prospectors were 68 people from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, six from Mali, five from Mauritania, three from South Africa, two from Chad, one from the Ivory Coast, and one from Gambia. The nationalities of the remaining arrested prospectors have not been released.
An additional 117 citizens of Angola were arrested in the operation for illegally prospecting diamonds in the area, according to police sources.
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