Illegal environment task force operators have taken over the Ebonyi state capital, Abakaliki molesting shop owners in their attempt to force residents to buy disposable waste buckets.
The group operating with tricycles otherwise known as Keke recently confiscated goods from shop owners who questioned the legality of their operations.
Speaking with one of the victims, Mr Solomon Nweke, a phone accessories dealers at the St Patrick road Kpiri-kpiri, opposite the Ugo Martins Drive lamented that the group with the Ebonyi state Ministry of Environment IGR Board boldly encrypted receipt said that the government acclaimed task force operators stormed his shop and requested that he pay fifteen thousand five hundred,(15,000) naira for not obtaining the approved environmental waste bin bucket.
An action, according to Mr Nweke, forced many shop owners to start closing their businesses as all efforts to convince them that there’s no public notice that directed them to pay such money fell on deaf ears.
He narrated that the team leader who identified his name as Mr Amechi ransacked all the shops within the area and later made away with his bunch of Oraimo phone cord.
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Another victims, Mrs Nwiyi Ukamaka, a thrift wear dealer, and Engr Chibueze Njoku, narrated their ugly experiences and blamed Ebonyi state government for introducing multiple taxation even when they are aware of the economic situation poor masses are facing in the country.
However, the Head of Department in charge of Environmental Health Service, Mrs Uzoke Jacinta revealed that the ministry did not contract the sales of waste bin buckets in the state noting that the ministry has received a lot of complaints and warned those sabotaging the ministry to desist from such heinous acts.
When contacted by our correspondent, the state Commissioner for Environment, Mr Victor Chukwu, confirmed the activities of the saboteurs and urged the general public to report those involved for arrest and prosecution.
