The Federal Capital Territory, FCT has pulled down shanties and removed squatters in the Idu district of the territory.

This is part of efforts to rid activities of organized criminal gangs within the nation's capital.

Senior Special Assistant SSA to the FCT Minister on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement, Attah Ikharo, led the clean-up in collaboration with officials of the Department of Development Control, Security Services, Abuja Environmental Protection Board, AEPB, and all relevant security agencies.

The SSA who lamented the rate at which people build shanties on busy junctions, abandoned plots and green areas in Abuja, said the situation would not be tolerated.

He said; “This is our regular removal of shanties and squatters across the city. What we have observed which is very bad and in contravention of urban and regional planning laws and Abuja Environmental Protection Board, AEPB, Act is that people now see very busy junctions, empty plots, as places where they can just put shanties and endanger lives.

“What we need is regular, routine removals of all the contraventions and ensuring that the city looks smooth and some of these areas serve as hideouts for criminals and when you remove the shanties and all the wrongly constructed illegal structures, you would discover that you would have won from all sides by reducing crimes, while also restoring the Abuja Master Plan and dignity of the city”.

Head, Monitoring and Enforcement, Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), Kaka Bello, lamented the stealing and destruction of some infrastructural facilities in the area.

“It is a lot of money government spent to put up infrastructure. You can see how some people have turned part of the road to illegal structures.

“The implication on the environment is negative. It is an eye sore for a city like this and we won’t allow this type of illegalities”, he said.

Similarly, the Field Coordinator, FCT Special Ministerial Committee on Transportation and Public Nuisances, Mr. Peter Olumiji, said most of the illegal structures harbour criminal elements and they come out at night to rob innocent people of their valuables.