The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has arrested 47 Point of Sale (POS) agents in Abuja for conducting business on streets and other unapproved places.
Mr Ikharo Attah, Senior Special Assistant to FCT Minister on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement, made the disclosure in a statement issued on Sunday.
Addressing the 47 arrested operators on the premises of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), Attah said the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello, had no plan to stop POS business but was concerned about security issues surrounding it.
He said the arrested operators might face a mobile court as they had violated environmental laws.
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He noted that the POS business was not illegal, but that operating outside commercial zones and indiscriminately in residential areas was an offence.
He said, “Reports on the arrested operators will go to the minister to determine if they complied with the rules of the city which would not give criminals the shield to disguise as POS operators.’’
The Assistant Director, Enforcement, AEPB, Malam Kaka Bello, explained that environmental laws of the city forbade business activities in residential areas and on streets.
He explained that those who operated in commercial places would have no problem with the team, but that violators of the restrictions would be made to face the law.
City & Crime reports that the administration had earlier said there were intelligence reports and complaints by residents that strange people were roaming about in some neighbourhoods, pretending to be POS operators.
