The Benue State government has confirmed that 50 people pretending to be Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) were caught at the International Market on George Akume Way in Makurdi, the state capital.

Mr. Aondowase Kunde, the State Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, shared this news on Saturday in Makurdi.

Kunde pointed out that criminals have managed to infiltrate the IDP camp set up for those affected by the Yelwata attack.

He stated that 50 impostors have been arrested, and noted that both local residents and market vendors have also entered the camp.

He reported that on Friday night, these criminals broke into the camp and stole various non-food items, while market women have also been going into the camp to buy food meant for distribution.

“We have faced problems in the camp over the last two days and have found many infiltrators inside.

“After the protest, we carried out investigations and discovered that both criminals and people of the host community in Makurdi were behind the protest.

“So we resolved that we have to be at the camp by 4am today (Saturday) to fish out those criminals and discovered that they stole mattresses through a collapsed fence to access the camp.

“We also discovered that some market women had started coming to the camp to buy rice and food meant for the displaced persons.

“Also, we found out that some women, claiming to be nursing mothers, went out to borrow babies from outside to gain access to the camp, knowing that the first group we attended to included pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers.

“When these so called nursing mothers were asked to breastfeed their babies, we discovered that there was no milk being produced from their breasts,” the commissioner said.