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Sand is a crucial material used in construction and the telecommunication industry but experts have warned excessive mining is putting the world on the verge of running out. Countries across the globe have created regulations due to the detrimental effects sand mining has on the environment, with activists campaigning for more legislation to be implemented. But the restriction of access to the material and the fear of running out of sand in the construction business has led to the birth of a "sand mafia" murdering journalists and environmental activists opposed to regulating the sand mining industry.

Sumaira Abdulali, an Indian activist who has been warning against the rise of violent gangs embroiled in illegal sand mining since 2003, told BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast: "Sand mining is a huge global issue as we now know, but we’re struggling with it for years now in India and we are trying to spread the message both in India and globally. "It started for me seeing the impact on my local beach but as the awareness grew and more people started talking about it and writing about it, it became clear it was actually a huge mafia. "It's destroying not only our government system but also destroying the environment, giving rise to huge human rights violations and all kinds of other issues. "Because this is an unregulated industry, much of it is illegal – by some estimates more than 80 percent is illegal. Often people who are minding don’t have any kind of protection at all, they are completely at the mercy of whatever happens."

Sand shortages could have huge impact on the construction and communication sectors

Sand and gravel have become the most extracted raw material, with the world using up to 50 billion tonnes each year to build housing as well as to extract silica to manufacture phone batteries and silicon chips contained in tablets. The demand for the material has grown increasingly and has already forced authorities in Vietnam to issue a warning suggesting the country could run out of construction sand as soon as 2020. Biodiversity conservation expert Aurora Torres said sand reserves have already run out in several regions across the world and warned of the impact the loss of the material could have on humans. Dr Torres told BBC Radio 5 Live: "Certainly there are many regions in the world in which sand shortages are becoming increasingly common, either because the resources have been completely depleted and the area needs to find other deposits or sometimes is regulations banning sand mining to protect the resources.

Sand shortages have sparked the birth of a sand mafia