The police said their investigation indicated that the suspects were part of a larger network selling stolen manhole covers to scrap dealers. The Abuja investigation itself pointed to scrap dealers receiving stolen manhole covers. If stolen public property can be bought, transported, processed and sold without a credible account of its origin, there is an economic incentive for the theft to continue. It means making it difficult, if not impossible, for stolen public infrastructure to pass through the recycling chain as ordinary scrap. Nigeria does not have to choose between protecting the livelihood of legitimate waste recyclers and protecting public infrastructure.