Police arrest 16 fake revenue collectors in Anambra

No fewer than 16 illegal revenue collectors have been arrested by the Anambra State Police Command for harassing and extorting innocent citizens in Onitsha. The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Haruna Mohammed, in a statement yesterday in Awka, said the suspects would be charged at the close of investigation.

He added that security men on patrol of the Head Bridge, Upper Iweka and Owerri Road within the commercial city arrested the fake collectors, who disguised as government revenue agents.

The arrest, Mohammed noted, was in compliance with the state government’s recent directives banning illegal revenue collection by unauthorised persons and impostors. The statement read in part: “In continuation of the commitment towards enforcing government’s directives on harassment and extortion of innocent citizens in the name of IGR collection, police operatives attached to the Area Command Onitsha and Okpoko Division, led by ACP John Ogbuagbaka, on Monday, January 18,2021 while on patrol along Head bridge, Upper Iweka and Owerri Road all in Onitsha, arrested 16 llegal revenue collectors under false pretence of being government revenue agents in the state.

“The command vowed to enforce to the letter government directives against harassment and extortion of innocent citizens on the road in the name of IGR collection.”

It continued: “The command warned that anybody found engaging in such acts should be ready to face the full wrath of the law.

“The command would continue to deal with hoodlums until they refrained from criminal activities or relocated.”