Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State Saturday morning personally confronted a gang of illegal tax operators who barricaded the Makurdi-Gboko road at Abinsi village where they were busy extorting traders and truck drivers.

Vanguard gathered that the Governor was on his way to Gboko for a function when he stopped over at Abinsi as soon as he sighted stationary trucks loaded with various products whose drivers were being extorted by the illegal revenue collectors.

“Angered by what he saw, the Governor alighted from his car and directed his security aides to arrest the criminals but they all immediately fled the scene and disappeared into a nearby bush.

“He directed the dismantling of the blockade that was erected on the road by the gang and ensured that all the trucks laden with goods that were held up by the criminals drove off safely.

“The Governor also vowed that he would personally intensify surveillance on that illegal checkpoint in order to apprehend the criminals,” he said.

This is the second time in the last four months the Governor is confronting the criminal gangs at the same spot on the busy highway where they mount a blockade to collect illegal revenue from road users.

Vanguard recalls that the Governor had earlier in the week, shortly after signing into law the amended Benue Internal Revenue Administration Law, decried the activities of the illegal tax collectors on Benue roads and advised those indulging in the act to steer clear of the state or be ready to be treated as armed robbers when apprehended.

The Executive Chairman of Benue Internal Revenue Service, BIRS, Mrs. Mimi Adzape-Orubibi equally raised the alarm lamenting that the gangs by their mode of operation were armed robbers who were discouraging farm produce traders from coming to Benue due to illegal multiple taxation. (Sunday Vanguard)