By Peter Duru, Makurdi

Indications have emerged that no fewer than 53 persons are currently facing trial in courts for operating illegal revenue checkpoints in parts of Benue State.

In a statement obtained Wednesday in Makurdi from the Media Assistant to the Executive Chairman of Benue Internal Revenue Service, BIRS, Suswam Terhemba, the records from the enforcement and legal units of the Board indicated that “53 persons have been arraigned in 24 cases at various courts in the state and are facing prosecution for robbery, criminal conspiracy, extortion among other charges.”

It would be recalled that the Executive Chairman of the BIRS, Mrs. Mimi Adzape-Orubibi had on assumption of office few months back warned criminal gangs who barricade roads across the state to extort trucks laden with goods to desist or be ready for a showdown with the board.

She had lamented the negative impact of the menace on the economy of the state saying it was worrisome as traders shunned the state because of the harassment and extortion they suffered in the hands of the criminals gangs who pose as revenue agents on the roads.

The Chairman who first opted for the carrot and stick approach however commenced a crackdown on those who persisted and who also recently had an encounter with Governor Samuel Ortom while traveling outside the state capital on the busy Makurdi-Gboko road.

The Chairman in the statement assured that under her watch “the clamp down on such criminals shall be sustained until the menace is totally eradicated.

“I therefore call on parents and traditional leaders to warn their wards to desist from this act as anyone arrested shall be treated as an armed robber in accordance with the law.”