By George Onah
PORT HARCOURT — Diehard criminals in Port Harcourt, Rivers State,  have evolved a new system of perpetrating crime, by  clothing themselves in religious wears, clutching the Bible and visit residential houses, pretending to be itinerary preachers only to dispossess their victims of their belongings.

The discovery by the police in Rivers State,  is coming on the heels of the arrest of two would-be kidnappers,  who attempted to elicit the support of two soldiers to kidnap the daughter of the chairman of a market union in Port Harcourt.

Disclosing the fresh tricks of the thieves in Port Harcourt, Police Public Relations Officer, Dr. Rita Inoma-Abbey, told newsmen that these rogues, who pose as preachers would strike as soon as the attention of their victims have been won and have gained access into targeted apartments.

She added that the bandits also specialise in disguising as environmental fumigators, agents of the state revenue board or as officials of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria,  who trick  their unsuspecting victims and overrun their residence.

To check the trend, she alerted the public to always verify, through the window or well protected openings, the genuineness of any identity card presented by those who present themselves as revenue officials or preachers.

On the two men,  who invited soldiers to assist in the kidnap, Vanguard learnt that both men, who are traders and members of the market association, told the soldiers that they would be given substantial percentage of the N10 million to be extorted from the girl’s father,  if the deal succeeds.

The eight-year-old girl would have been picked up at her parents’ residence in Aluu, near the university town of Choba and hidden in a deserted building in down-town Rumuji, where they would have traded her freedom for money.

But the soldiers informed both the police and father of the girl, following which they, however, played along with the kidnappers only for the thieves to be arrested at the premises of the girl’s father, when they walked into the booby-trap of security men.