Posted on: 04:32 Wed, 28 Oct 2015



The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, at a press briefing at the Lagos command headquarters, on Tuesday said he receives about four robbery alerts on his Twitter handle every day and that the police have arrested 144 suspects as a result of constant raids of bridges and other hideouts of the hoodlums.

According to Punch The CP said the robbers mainly disguise as street traders, adding that motorists shouldn't patronise hawkers at night.

He said:

“One of the areas where the government
has challenges is the issue of traffic
robbery. We will not shy away from the
fact that we have had pockets of robbery
in traffic in recent times.

“In a day, I receive about four tweets of
traffic robbery. I monitor this personally
and I give directions and instructions
immediately. When I newly came to Lagos,
I used to receive about 10 robbery tweets
in a day. It is improving now, and it will
continue to improve.

“We made arrests in Oworonshoki,
Apongbon and Onikan areas last week and
there were about 144 suspects. Items
recovered from the hoodlums include
charms, machetes, locally-made guns and
valuables of victims.

“The most recent traffic robbery recorded
was carried out by someone selling snacks on the road. So, the message is that motorists should be careful when
patronising street traders.”

He added:

“Our enforcement on the ban on
commercial motorcycles is ongoing. The
challenge with Lagos is that about 500
new motorcycles enter our roads every
day. But the police have not stopped
enforcing this law.

“We will also start to enforce the law that
states that anyone carrying any object
defined by the law as a weapon is arrested
and charged to court. Therefore, members
of the public must be careful.

“As the end of the year draws near, the
police reiterate that there will be no use of
fireworks, bangers and items that sound
like explosives in any part of the state.
They are all prohibited.”