The Federal Capital Territory Ministerial Task-team charged with the enforcement of COVID-19 Restrictions have arrested 68 persons hidden in trucks and travelling through the city from Kano, Kaduna and Edo state.
The 68 travellers were hidden in two Dangote company trucks and another truck moving fertilisers from Edo State.
Luck ran out on them around Zuba, a border town in Abuja when the task team insisted on checking the trucks.
They were consequently arraigned before Magistrate Ebiwari Damini at the Zuba Mobile Court where they were fined N5,000 each.
The court ruled that they are to be escorted out of Abuja to their original places of departure.
Speaking to journalists in Zuba while leading an operation to direct the trucks back, Attah criticised the increasing rate of violation of the ban on interstate travel.
Attah said, “Drivers of the two Dangote trucks who were coming from Kano and Zaria after delivering goods carried passengers who were charged N1,500 each.
“What the drivers do is to charge passengers along the road between N1,000 and N1,500 each to transport them across states. Most of the drivers often ask the passengers to sit on the floor or hide in between bags so that they cannot be spotted by security personnel but for us in the FCT, we check every truck before allowing them passage.”
Attah gave the breakdown of those arrested as 17 persons travelling from Zaria, Kaduna State, to Lokoja in Kogi State and Asaba in Delta State; 16 persons travelling from Kano to Lokoja and Obajana in Kogi State and 25 persons travelling from Edo State to Zaria in Kaduna State.
