The Police in Akwa Ibom have razed criminal hideouts at the Hausa/Fulani community popularly known as Nasarawa, near Uyo, the capital of the state.

During the sting operation, several makeshift buildings allegedly serving operational base for cultists, armed bandits and other criminals for their vicious activities were pulled down.

Large consignments of marijuana, tramadol and other stolen properties including phones belonging to owners mostly from Northern Nigeria were reportedly recovered.

The operation came on the orders of the State government and was supervised by the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Uwemedimo Nwoko and his counterpart from the Ministry of Environment, Dr. Iniobong Essien.

The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Itam Police Division, Mr. Francis Erhabor, who led the police operations, said the shanties located near the popularly HausaFulani livestock, grains and vegetable market, ‘’has been under close surveillance in the last couple of months following cases of alleged theft, abuse of illicit drugs and other crimes’’

He warned that ‘’security agencies would not hesitate to clamp down on all illicit activities of criminals that pose security threat to lives and properties of residents’’ and urged the people including non-indigenes to imbibe the rules and regulations governing the State.

‘’Investigation would be sustained in order to arrest and bring the culprits to book and I urge the local residents to always volunteer information to security agencies on activities of criminal elements in their neighbourhoods for timely intervention to nib such cases in the bud’’, he said

The Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Nwoko, expressed surprise at the discovery of such hideout located within the precinct of the Uyo Capital City and vowed that the State government would stop at nothing to punish anyone found to have infringe with the law by his actions and solicited the cooperation of security forces to bring criminals to justice.

“As a government, we are committed to the protection of lives and properties of the people”, he assured and warned the youths against any association that would bring bad influence on others in the society.

Similarly, Environment Commissioner, Iniobong Essien, commended the swiftness of the Police in tackling the menace and enjoined them to sustain the surveillance operations in most of the likely flashpoints and criminal hideouts in the State.