The Federal Capital Territory Commissioner of Police, CP Tuni Disu, has stated that arrested vandals of manholes and public property will henceforth be charged with economic sabotage and attempted murder.
Disu made the statement during a press briefing, following a security council meeting with the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, on Monday.
The PUNCH reported last week that Operatives of the FCT Police Command, in collaboration with sister agencies, arrested 50 suspected vandals in separate raids at hotspots in Kabusa, Garki, Mabushi and Wuse.
The Police chief said the arrested vandals were often given minute punishments, resulting in the recycling of the same criminals, noting that the activities of the vandals were “enough to kill residents of the Federal Capital Territory”
“Everybody arrested for vandalising public infrastructure will be charged to court. Not only will they be charged to court but they will be charged to court for economic sabotage because we have noticed that whenever we charge them to court, the punishment given to them is so minute that we notice that we have been recycling these criminals.
“Most of the time they get community service where they are flogged, they get 24 strokes of the cane, and at times they get fined for N2,000, N5,000 Naira. So we noticed that we have been recycling these criminals.
“The activities of the vandals are enough to kill residents of the Federal Capital Territory because they remove all these manholes and while driving at night, you may not know that they have been removed and are capable of causing death. So, they will be charged for economic sabotage and even at times, if possible, attempted murder or murder.”
He added that the security council had resolved to ban the activities of ‘panteka’ (scavengers) for two weeks until those involved in such activities were profiled by the security agencies, adding that scavenging activities had also been banned, particularly in the city centre.
“So they will be banned for two weeks, with effect from tomorrow, and we are going to profile them. At the same time, scavenging has been banned in the Federal Capital Territory, especially in the city centres. Their activities will only be limited to dump sites. All security agencies have been tasked with ensuring that this order is enforced,” he said.
Disu also disclosed that the FCT Police Command had confiscated 25 operational vehicles used by ‘One Chance’ kidnappers, adding that the Police will embark on patrol as part of its strategies for the year and charge those who have been arrested to court
“We have succeeded in removing 25 of their operational vehicles from circulation. And what we noticed was that a lot of them were coming from other states, moving into the Federal Capital Territory every day as if they were coming to do their legitimate work.
“And what we noticed more is that almost all the vehicles recovered from these operators of one chance were tinted, fully tinted, making it difficult for their victims to ask for help, making it difficult for passers-by to see that people in those vehicles were in distress.
“Now, what are we going to do about it this year? We are going to embark on the same strategy that we deployed last year that yielded successes for us. We are going to embark on patrol. We are going to use a lot of intelligence. And those who have been arrested, we ensure that we charge them to court properly.” he said