BANJUL, September 10, 2008 (AFP) - Gambian authorities have declared a British mining engineer a wanted man, saying he had skipped bail and fled the country while awaiting trial for alleged illegal uranium mining.

A government statement issued late Tuesday said Charles Northfield, who was working for Australian firm Carnegie minerals, had escaped to Britain last week.

'Charles Northfield from Plymouth, Devon, in the United Kingdom, is hereby declared wanted,' it said.

Northfield was arrested in February and Carnegie Minerals' mining licence cancelled by Gambian authorities, which said the firm had been secretly mining and exporting uranium when it was only licensed to deal in zircon, silicon and ilmenite.

Carnegie managing director Alan Hopkins strongly denied the allegations, saying the firm had 'always strongly adhered to the legal processes as set out by the Gambian government and our mining licence.'

He said trace amounts of uranium occurring in the Gambian mineral sands were usual for such deposits and had no commercial value.

In a related development, security sources said that a mumber of police and other officers had been dismissed, apparently as a result of Northfield's escape.