The Board of Benue Internal Revenue Service (BIRS) has arrested 76 for alleged illegal tax collection in the state.
Its Executive Chairman, Terzungwe Atser, who briefed reporters in Makurdi, the state capital lamented that the activities of the illegal tax collectors were scaring investors away from the state.
He confirmed that four major betting companies had relocated on account of the unsavoury development.
The BIRS boss regretted that these illegal taxmen were composed of highly placed politicians, traditional and community leaders.
According to him, the unlawful collectors devise all manner of levies and recruit young men in various communities to mount illegal roadblocks where they extort money from traders and transporters through coercion.