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Arrest 20 criminals, copycat in Oshodi
The agency also said that no fewer than 60 of its motorcycles, popularly called Okada, were seized and 20 of the criminals arrested.
The Director of Press and Public Affairs of the Lagos State Task Force, Gbadeyan Abdulraheem, said yesterday in a statement that the action seeks to rid the state of hiding places of criminals, black spots and threats from commercial motorcyclists, illegal fines on the roads of the state and free the state from the threat of thugs and street urchins popularly known as area boys.
The statement said that the task force has begun its tactical and strategic application for compliance operations by the year 2022, to nip all intentional criminal activity in the bud and secure total sanity in the state throughout the year, to achieve the vision. state zero tolerance. by criminal elements.
The statement also quoted the chairman of the State Task Force, CSP Shola Jejeloye, as saying that the agency seized 19 vehicles displayed for sale on the sidewalks of Ladipo, as well as 43 tricycles traveling on restricted routes on the highways were impounded, with 40 illegal street vendors arrested. who will face the mobile court for prosecution, sooner rather than later.
Jejeloye said the agency had started the year on a good note and it is clear that 2022 in Lagos is not a safe haven for criminals and environmental law violators in the state.
IN a related event, agency agents arrested a 35-year-old ex-con, Ismaila Salami, who specializes in seizing commercial motorcycles, under the guise of being an official of the agency.
The suspect was arrested in Oshodi on Thursday after he took a bicycle from an unsuspecting commercial cyclist in Mushin and drove the bicycle to Oshodi, where he was accosted by officers attached to the agency and questioned, until he confessed to the crime.
He confessed to being an ex-con, who got into the business of defrauding commercial passengers right after leaving the correctional facility.
He said this was his first time operating alone, as he has a gang of more than five men who together conduct illegal patrols to confiscate Okada from its owners.
“The city council does not pay us. We just go out on illegal patrols around our axis to see who we can arrest and intimidate until he parted with some money before we hand over his bike. We normally charge between 3,000 and 4,000 naira per bike. ”
An identification card with the inscription “Mushin Local Government, Okada Board of Task Force” was recovered from the suspect.
“He will be charged in court while investigations are carried out to ensure that all other criminal elements, which tarnish the image of the Agency, are arrested and brought to court.”
Jejeloye urged the public to provide the agency with details of any illegal activities taking place in their area.
He further said that the agency would go out in full force to make the state unbearable for any criminal and violator of state environmental laws this year.