AGBERO” REPUBLIC: TOUTS AND CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES IN KARU LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF NASARAWA STATE, NIGERIA

The paper examined touts activities and the nature of crime in Karu Local Area of Nasarawa State, Nigeria. The study adopted survey research design and purposive sampling procedure to select informants from Mararaba under bridge and Masaka U-turn in Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State. In-depth-interview was the instrument used for information gathering which was analyzed non-numerically using content analysis. Findings from this study show that touts activities are usually disruptive in the study area; they usually attack their victim with different weapons and cart away their belongings. The paper concluded that, touts activities has severely disrupted security situation as well as sky-rocketed crime such as: looting, killings, raping, thurggery, and street violence, pick pocketing among others in Karu Local Government Area. The paper recommended investigation of touts activities and arrest, and community collaboration as a way of controlling and preventing criminal activities by touts in the area.