COVID-19 Panic: Taraba Considers Quarantining 65 Travellers Intercepted By Police

The police in Taraba State have intercepted 65 persons traveling from Ogun State to Adamawa.

According to the police, the heavy-duty vehicle that conveyed them from Ogun state was able to beat all the border patrol teams with the claim that he was conveying food items not knowing that there are human beings in it.

The Deputy Commissioner of Police Operations, Faleye Olaleye said that upon reaching Jalingo, the driver of the said vehicle dumped them and ran away with the vehicle to an unknown destination.

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Upon interrogation, the police discovered that the individuals, said to be workers of a Chinese firm in Ogun, paid huge sums of money to be conveyed to Numan in Adamawa.

One of the travellers, Haruna Adamu, who spoke to newsmen on behalf of others said after the Chinese company closed down, they were asked to leave, hence the decision to use such strategy.

“We had no place to go when the company closed down, we stepped out and found a vehicle heading to the north, then we contributed to pay him to convey us,” he said.

Adamu who noted that the bargain was for the driver to take them to Numan, said they were surprised to know that they were dumped in Jalingo, with another arrangement to convey them via 18 sitter buses to their destination.

He said despite the lockdown in Ogun State, they violated it and moved out since Wednesday, April 15 before been intercepted today in Jalingo.

While denying to have the mobile phone number of the driver, nor the registration number of the vehicle, Adamu stated that the amount spent on their transportation is N720,000.

Reacting to the development, the state’s Commissioner of Health, Dr Innocent Vakkai, said their presence in the state is worrisome and could make residents panic.

The Commissioner however noted that state government is considering quarantining them in its isolation centres or to take them to Adamawa state for quarantine since that is their final destination.