The Cross River State Commissioner of Police, CP Uche J. Anozia, has paraded 26 passengers allegedly conveyed in two Hiace buses from Akwa Ibom State to Cross River State amidst coronavirus pandemic.
Parading the suspects on Thursday at Ikot Omin Police Station in Calabar Municipal Local Government Area of the state, the CP Anozia, said that the suspects were aware that there was the closure of the border between Cross River and the Akwa Ibom States.
He said, “Everybody knows that the boundary between the two states has been closed because of the issue of the coronavirus pandemic, which has ravaged the entire world and Nigeria inclusive.
“About 3 am on Thursday, the two buses with 26 passengers were arrested by our men along Eight Miles; the passengers and the drivers conspired to infiltrate Cross River State from Akwa Ibom State.
“We discovered that the passengers did not cross through the conventional road because nobody would have allowed them to do that, but they used the bush tracts to get to a certain point where the vehicles conveyed them to Cross River State.
“I warned others who would want to adopt the same strategy to desist from it as the Police will sanction such persons” the CP warned, explaining that the suspects would have been charged to court for conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace if not for the shutdown of court. He warned them to desist from such act.
“Unfortunately, the court is not in sea session and there is no place to take them to and the basic thing now is that since it a is first offence, we will take them back to Akwa Ibom State and warn them against such conduct. Their vehicles, however, have been impounded” CP Anozia stated.
Speaking with newsmen, the drivers of the buses with registration numbers Cross River ABE 242 XA and Abia MBL 646 XA respectively, Ufot Oko Akpan and Ini Udo Jackson, said that their vehicles spoiled at Okurikang in Odukpani Local Government Area of Cross River.
When their vehicles were fixed, they saw the passengers and decided to pick them to Calabar, “We were coming in from Okurikang in Odukpani Local Government to Calabar and the Police arrested us at 8 Miles junction and took us to the Police State Ikot Omin.
“We carried the passengers around 6.30 pm on Wednesday but the vehicle had an issue and we work on them and arrived where the Police arrested us about 2 am on Thursday. We saw the passengers on the road but we don’t know where they came out from,” the drivers stated.
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