ILLEGAL CHECKPOINTS: MORE CULPRITS ARRESTED AS BIRS CHAIRMAN UNDERTAKES CLEARANCE OPERATIONS WITH SECURITY AGENTS ….Vows to sustain the fight against operators
In a follow-up to the multiple operations against illegal roadblocks across Benue state by the Taskforce team constituted by Governor Hyacinth Alia, the Acting Executive Chairman of the Benue State Internal Revenue Service, BIRS, Emmanuel Agema, ACTI, over the weekend led security agents on a clearance patrol across major highways in the state.
The combined team, comprising operatives of the Nigerian Police Force and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps arrested five (5) notorious culprits at three locations in Ushongo and Vandeikya Local Government Areas.
At one of the locations, Akerior in Ushongo, the security operatives discovered a nearby house where the touts rented a room and were using as their operating base.
Cooking items, clothes, mosquito net, a register book and receipt booklets bearing “BENUE ASSOCIATES OF TIV BERANDA CO” among other items were found there and confiscated.
The checkpoints were also dismantled and destroyed, while those arrested are to be prosecuted accordingly.
The Chairman noted during the exercise that as much as the Taskforce team on illegal roadblocks had recorded huge successes during their exercise, there are still pockets of such checkpoints in operation by some notorious criminals hence his decision to lead the clearance exercise, which he promised will be sustained until the menace is totally eradicated.
The Chairman further called on all stakeholders in the state, including traditional and community leaders, youth associations and the general public to discourage and expose the unrepentant criminals in their communities.
It will be recalled that Mr. Emmanuel Agema upon his assumption of office as the Acting Executive Chairman had decried the unabating activities of illegal checkpoints and roadblocks across the state which he noted was biting hard on traders and even commuters due to the multiple extortion suffered on the roads.
This necessitated the formation of a Taskforce team under the supervision of the Director Enforcement which has been worked in synergy with the Taskforce on illegal roadblocks constituted by the Executive Governor of the state, His Excellency, Rev. Fr. Dr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia.
Jacintha Benard
Media Assistant to the Ag. Executive Chairman, BIRS
26th November, 2023
