The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command has announced a crackdown on vehicles with tinted windows and obscured number plates in an effort to combat rising criminal activities, including kidnapping.
In a statement posted on X.com late Tuesday, the police spokesperson, SP Josephine Adeh, warned vehicle owners in the FCT to remove any tinted glass from their cars or face having their vehicles impounded. “For now, the use of tinted glasses on vehicles is prohibited. If your vehicle has tinted glasses, kindly remove them to avoid having your vehicle impounded by the police,” she stated. The directive is part of a broader strategy to address increasing incidents of crimes such as the “one chance” scam, where unsuspecting passengers are abducted.
The FCT Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu, reinforced this message during a parade of suspects on Tuesday, highlighting the role tinted windows and covered number plates play in facilitating criminal activities. In a video accompanying the statement, Disu noted that many kidnapping victims rescued by the police had cited tinted windows as a key factor preventing people from noticing their distress. He also pointed out that criminals often used vehicles with covered or missing number plates to evade detection.
“We are clamping down on all commercial vehicles and everybody tinting their vehicles. We need to see people in their vehicles; tinted glass is contributing to a lot of lawlessness,” Disu said. “A lot of the kidnapped victims that we have rescued have given us their word that the tinted glass made it impossible for people to know that they were in distress.”
The Commissioner issued a stern warning, emphasizing that the police will rigorously enforce the ban on tinted windows, covered number plates, and unregistered vehicles moving forward. “Nobody has the right to tint their vehicles. We will enforce the law on covering number plates and unregistered vehicles because these are forms of criminality that people take advantage of to rob innocent citizens,” Disu concluded.
