The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command has uncovered a criminal syndicate producing fake diplomatic and official government vehicle registration plates, while recovering stolen public infrastructure valued at millions of naira.
In a Friday press briefing at the command headquarters, FCT Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Sanusi, revealed that the racket charged unsuspecting buyers between ₦500,000 and ₦1.7 million to procure the fraudulent licences.
CP Sanusi stated that investigations were launched shortly after he took office following reports of unauthorised persons using official tags to evade law enforcement and infiltrate restricted zones.
“Upon my assumption of duty as the Commissioner of Police, FCT Command, my attention was drawn to the proliferation and unauthorized use of diplomatic and official government licence plate numbers by unauthorized individuals. I immediately ordered a comprehensive investigation into this disturbing trend, which revealed that these individuals use such plate numbers as a cover to perpetrate crimes within the Federal Capital Territory and evade detection and arrest,” Sanusi said.
“Some of these things are ranging between N500,000 to N1.7 million for them to procure. This will tell you that they are making such huge expenditure because they have an agenda to fulfil with it, which they feel is bigger than the cost they are incurring. Now they will face punishment that is bigger than both the cost they incur and the agenda they are planning to use it to perpetrate,” he added.
While suspects caught with the illegal tags remain in custody, police have tracked the manufacturing network to locations outside the FCT. Sanusi noted that officers are actively pursuing the producers:
“We are on their trail. We’ve gotten their identities. That’s why we are not displaying our suspects regarding this so that they will not know that we are coming after them,” he said.
“The suspects from whom these plate numbers were recovered are currently in custody and will be charged to court upon the conclusion of investigation,” he stated.
Urging journalists and the public to report suspicious diplomatic vehicles, Sanusi highlighted how the fake tags were being weaponised:
“They use these fake numbers to beat security checkpoints. They use them to go into ministries and parastatals unstopped because everybody feels once you are a diplomat or have these plates, you are a big man. Help us identify them. Raise an alarm and we will arrest them,” the police commissioner said.
Parallel intelligence-led operations across Maitama, Garki, Durumi, Jabi, Apo Legislative Quarters, Lugbe, and Nyanya led to the recovery of stolen drainage covers, solar street lights, armored power cables, and telecommunications cabling.
Police arrested five suspects, Godwin Aja, Mustapha Nasiru, Ibrahim Garba, Abdulrasheed Sale, and Dabarani Mujitafa, in connection with the vandalism, which the command denounced as economic sabotage.
Condemning the impact on residents, Sanusi warned: “The removal of drainage covers, solar street lights, armoured cables used for the transmission of high-voltage electricity and internet communication cables … has directly contributed to road traffic accidents, injuries to pedestrians, increased incidents of street crime in areas plunged into darkness and the disruption of electricity supply to entire communities through the theft of high-tension power cables,” he said.
“I want to use this opportunity to send a clear warning to all purchasers, receivers and dealers in stolen public infrastructure that the FCT Police Command is coming after you,” he warned.
The command confirmed that all recovered municipal assets will be transferred to the Federal Capital Territory Administration for reinstallation, while intelligence-driven policing and public collaboration remain central to securing the capital territory.