A Special Task Force which comprise of Special Control Unit against Money Laundering, SCUML and Counter-Terrorism/General Investigation, CTGI, Units of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on October 31, 2012, arrested twelve suspected land racketeers who operate around the Abuja Geographical Information Service, AGIS.
The arrest followed intelligence reports on the operation of the suspected racketeers in Abuja which has led to the fleecing of unsuspecting Nigerians of their hard earned money.
Of the 12 persons arrested, four persons who were found with suspected fake land title documents were held for further explanation on their culpability or otherwise in the series of land scams which have been going on in the Federal Capital Territory.
Angela Nworgu, head of SCUML, said the arrest will be a continuous exercise until Abuja and environs are sanitized of unscrupulous and shady land dealers. She further warned that all those who specialize in obtaining money under false pretence from unsuspecting members of the public with a promise of offering non- existent land, should desist from it; as the EFCC is poised to cleanse the system of illegal land transactions in Abuja.
It would be recalled that the EFCC chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, on Tuesday May 15, 2012, condemned fraudulent dealings in land acquisition in the FCT.
Lamorde who was speaking at the public presentation of a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)-sponsored report, Systems Study on the Federal Capital Territory Land Administration and Documentary on Grassroots Involvement with Budget Process in Abuja, said "for some of us in the law enforcement regime in this country, if there are areas that have become interesting to visit and where fraud is being perpetuated, it is land administration in the FCT. It is in the FCT that people brandish supposed originals of Certificate of Occupancy of plots of land and other people still come and contest it with the original Certificate."
Wilson Uwujaren
Ag. Head, Media and Publicity
November 1, 2012