Police arrest man over alleged assault on VIO officers

By Golok Nanmwa, Jos

The Plateau State Police Command has arrested a 27-year-old man, Aweng Josiah, for allegedly mobilising hoodlums to assault Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO) officers after they impounded his vehicle over traffic violations.

The Police Public Relations Officer, SP Alfred Alabo, disclosed this in a statement issued on Tuesday in Jos, saying the arrest followed a petition from the Plateau State Ministry of Transport.

Alabo said VIO officials impounded the suspect’s Peugeot 504 bus, with registration number BKK308CY, on September 11, 2026, after he was allegedly found driving without a valid driver’s licence and with expired vehicle documents.

Rather than cooperate with the officials to regularise his vehicle documents and obtain a valid driver’s licence, the suspect allegedly mobilised hoodlums to attack the officers, the police spokesman said.

According to Alabo, the hoodlums arrived on tricycles and assaulted officers assigned to escort the impounded vehicle to the VIO office.

He said the command received a petition from the Ministry of Transport on September 21, 2026, reporting the incident, after which detectives commenced an investigation.

The suspect was subsequently apprehended with the support of members of the community and handed over to the police, Alabo added.

He said the suspect’s assistant, popularly known as a motor boy, who allegedly participated in the assault, was still at large, while efforts were ongoing to arrest him.

The Commissioner of Police, Plateau State Command, CP Ayodeji Faniyan, condemned the alleged attack, warning that the command would not tolerate assaults on government officials performing their lawful duties.

“The command will not tolerate any form of assault on government officials carrying out their lawful duties or on any citizen of Nigeria residing in or passing through Plateau State,” the statement quoted the commissioner as saying.

Faniyan urged members of the public to cooperate with government officials carrying out their duties.

He also advised anyone aggrieved by the conduct of government officials to report to the nearest police station or seek redress in a court of law rather than take the law into their own hands.

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