By Oluwatosin Maliki
Nine suspected illegal tax collectors were arrested on Thursday, following a clash with the youths in Daudu, Guma Local Government Area along the Makurdi-Lafia Federal Highway by the joint security tax force on illegal road tax collection in Benue State.
The tax force team was led by retired Chief Superintendent of Police, Jeffery Iorbee, the team comprised of the police and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps on enforcement where three suspects were arrested.
Subsequently, the team had a mission to transport the suspects from Daudu to Makurdi, the state capital, but they were challenged by the youths in the area and their accomplices as they blocked the federal highway and engaged the task force in a battle prompting the police to shoot into the air to scare them off the road for safe passage. Motorists who had been victims of this incessant extortion, praised the state government.
Afterwards, the taskforce returned to Daudu with backup from the military and took on hoodlums, apprehending six other suspects with a resolve to prosecute them.
Consequently, all recovered items seized from the suspects and their operational bases were set ablaze.
The governor of Benue State, Governor Hyacinth Alia, was applauded by motorists plying the Makurdi-Lafia Federal Highway for ridding criminals off the road as they have also fallen victim of armed robbery due to the activities of the hoodlums.
In addition, all nine suspects have been taken to the Benue State police headquarter. However, before being whisked away, the task force made them to clear the road of all blockades under the supervision of the military personnel.