Chijioke Agwu, Abakaliki
The Ebonyi State Police Command has arrested and quizzed one Joshua Igwe and three others for allegedly engaging in illegal revenue collection under the name of poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) in Ebonyi state.
All revenue payments in the state are done through bank transactions and not by cash, but the suspect and his group were busted while moving from one market to the other in the state collecting cash from unsuspecting traders.
Luck, however, ran out on them when the state’s tax team, responding to a tip-off, nabbed them and handed them over to the police for further investigation and prosecution.
Reacting to the development, the Ebonyi chapter of the Poultry Association of Nigeria, distanced the group from the illegal revenue collectors.
PAN in a statement jointly signed by state chairman Mr John Nwobegu and state secretary Mr Cyril Ogbogu, the group urged police to properly investigate the fraudulent activities of the fraudsters and prosecute them accordingly, describing their actions as economic sabotage.
“It is against this background that the leadership of the Poultry Association of Nigeria, Ebonyi State chapter, dissociates itself totally and completely from the illicit business of illegal revenue collection by cash by this faceless group and condemns their action as unworthy and unpatriotic.
“We urge our members to remain calm as investigation is ongoing to unravel circumstance and persons involved in this act of sabotage. We equally urge the security agencies to stop at nothing to ensure that anyone found culpable is legally dealt with”, the group stated.
When contacted, the state’s police spokeswoman DSP Loveth Odah confirmed the arrests and said the matter was under investigation.