CP nabs motorists for preventing traffic robbers’ arrest

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The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, has said some motorists at the Anthony end of the Ikorodu Road attacked his convoy, while he was leading his men to arrest traffic robbers operating in the area.

The CP said he had stopped his convoy in the middle of traffic in order to make arrests but six motorists alighted from their vehicles and attacked him for obstructing the flow of traffic.

He alleged that one of the motorists even smashed the side mirror of his car.

Speaking at a press briefing on Thursday on the challenges of managing traffic, Owoseni said the hoodlums seized the opportunity to escape on the fateful day but the police rounded up the rampaging motorists for obstruction of justice.

Owoseni noted that this month, the command arrested 21 robbery suspects, and recovered 11 guns and 22 live cartridges.

He said, “A family had just been robbed at the Anthony end of the expressway while they were changing the deflated tyre of their vehicle. As I and policemen from the Anthony division were going to arrest the hoodlums, about six motorists waylaid my car and said we were preventing their movement. They forcefully removed the side mirror of my car.

“When I alighted from my vehicle to introduce myself as the CP of Lagos State, one of them rushed forward and said he was going to slap me. They had to grab his hand. In the end, although the hoodlums ran away, I did not let the motorists get away.

“We have continued to put strategies in place for crime and traffic management. Between October 27 and November 12, we arrested 21 suspected robbers, and 13 of them are traffic robbers. Most of them were arrested during the police’s response to distress calls.

“From the suspects, we recovered 11 double-barrelled guns, pump action guns and live ammunition. Some of them have been charged to court, while others are still helping with investigation.”

Owoseni, who noted that Lagosians should report crimes first to the police, and not the social media, said the police also recovered 15 vehicles in the period under review in Lagos, Imo and Ogun states. He added that some of the property had been returned to the owners who were identified.

Source: TheGuardian