Borno State Police Command has intercepted five trucks of scrap metal billed for investigations before submitting its report to government.
  
The report of the police and other security agencies, was to enable the state government come up with a policy on the business of scrap metal for livelihood.
 
Announcing the commencement of investigations on Saturday, in Maiduguri, the Police Commissioner, Abdu Umar said: “We can advise the State Government that there is nothing incriminating for now with any of these intercepted trucks of scrap metal.”
 
He noted that before the police and other security agencies conclude their investigations on the issue of scrap metal scavengers, a report would be submitted soon to government.
 
“We’ll come up with a concrete report before government sets a policy on the scavenging and sale of metal scraps in the state.”
 
Umar explained that government policy will make the business to be genuine and healthy among the scavengers that earn a living from metal scraps.
 
He, however, lamented the experience of the state government, where vehicles and infrastructure facilities in the health and water sectors were vandalized during the Boko Haram insurgency.
 
The police boss further disclosed that there were recent attacks in Kala/Balge and Dikwa Councils, where 32 and 23 metal scavengers were killed.
  
The killings, he said, were also attributed to people scavenging for metal scraps in villages torched by Boko Haram terrorists.
 
On whether the scavengers are insurgents, he said: “Our greatest surprise was that Umar Usman, the Chairman of Scraps Dealers Association (SDA) denied that none of his members were among the killed scavengers in the two councils.”
 
He said that government cannot sit down and see people dying in numbers, merely because they are metal scavengers and dealers.
 
According to him, the state government wants the business of scrap dealers to be healthy and competitive.