Motorists and commuters plying the Benin-City bypass road, particularly those taking detour to Auchi and Ekpoma axis are now being subjected to organised extortion spree by men who claimed to be task force officials.Investigations by Community News showed that these officials usually ply their trade on weekends, when most people from that part of the country are travelling home either to see their loved ones or for one engagement or the other.The illegal activities is said to be causing discomfort to communities around their area of operations after efforts to contact government have failed.The three-man gang usually hide at the end of the intersection on the bypass leading to Auchi and Ishan communities. No matter which side a vehicle disembarks from the bypass, so long it is a private vehicle,he is arrested and made to drive several kilometres into an unknown place for settlement amidst threat of arrest, impoundment or a combination of both.To effectively carry out their nefarious activities, the said officials have cleverly excavated the mounted sign indicating a detour, leaving motorists confused as to where to descend when they get to the intersection.Mr.Osamudiamen Usifoh, one of the motorists who was a victim of the antics of the impostors, told Community News that the crude way the people went about their activities was not different from that of armed robbers.Usifoh, who was on his way for a burial in his town, Irrua, was among several vehicles that descended on the side of the road that was said to be the wrong side, stressing that he was not only arrested but taken to an undisclosed location where the men emptied his pockets of every available cash amidst fierce threats.I dont think these people are working for government. They are clearly robbers without guns. They said my car was arrested because it is a jeep. Ironically, there is no sign on where to descend from the bypass, even vehicles that descended from the side they said was the correct one were also arrested and made to cough out various sums of money, he said.He called to the state governor, Mr Adams Oshiomhole to check the activities of these people, stating that they were rendering his effort to rebuild the state useless.Another motorist, Momoh Abass told Community News that because of the activities of the fake task force officials, he now prefers to drive through the main town, Benin-City anytime he was travelling to Auchi, his place.According to him, motorists were initially scared of the armed robbers who had made the bypass impassable, adding that following the improved security situation in the state, other forms of armed robbery under different guises were back to business.Community News gathered that the activities of the men was not secret, stating that they were working for some influential politicians in the state.Those that spoke with Community News disclosed that the officials ply their trade mostly on weekends when the bypass records huge vehicular movement, adding that they only target luxury cars.
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