Chairman of Okene local government council in Kogi state, Engr. Abdulrazaq Muhammad, has charged security agencies to trail and apprehend internet fraudsters and ritualists in the area.
Acting on actionable intelligence, the council chairman on Thursday constituted a joint security task force with a charge to flush out “these abominable and alien criminalities from the local government area”.
Engr. Muhammad said the directive is a committed effort to curb the menace of internet fraud, popularly known as “Yahoo Yahoo” especially among youths and teenage boys in Okene.
“The alleged activities of these criminals include but not limited to hacking of citizen’s bank and social media account details and using same to commit financial crime, posing as fake spiritual consultants with intent to dubiously obtain money from unsuspecting members of the public, harvesting and selling of vital human organs, cultism, kidnapping and killing of victims especially young girls among other criminal acts.
“Unfortunately, these evil doers found some identified areas, residential buildings and hotels within Okene local government as comfortable zones for their criminal operation,” he said.
He advise parents, community leaders and ward heads to step up their game and regularly scrutinize the activities of their children, residents and visitors to the community respectively.
The council boss also directed hotel owners to be vigilant and report any suspected customer to the nearest security outfit.
The chairman, however, commended the security joint taskforce, saying their work has yielded positive results as no fewer than 27 persons have so far been arrested within few days of operation.
