Operatives of the Lagos State Task Force have arrested 11 members of the MC Oluomo’s led National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW for causing mayhem in Ogba area of Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.
Task Force Chairman, Olayinka Egbeyemi, who confirmed the arrest on Monday said the union members were arrested at the weekend by the Enforcement team of the agency for causing mayhem around Yaya-Abatan Garage in Ogba.
Egbeyemi revealed that dangerous weapons such as axes, diggers, broken bottles, and cutlasses were recovered from those arrested in connection with the mayhem.
He said that all arrested suspects have been immediately charged to court.
The Task Force boss warned members of the NURTW to conduct their activities in a peaceful manner and not to disrupt the peace of innocent members of the public.
He vowed that anyone caught fomenting trouble would be severely dealt with in accordance with the law.
Meanwhile, the Taskforce operatives on Sunday night in Oshodi nabbed two persons for stealing a tricycle at Ifo area of Ogun State.
Egbeyemi said that preliminary investigation revealed the suspects -Sodiq Sulaiman and Saidi Ibrahim stole the tricycle with registration No JJJ-706-QF from where the owner parked it on the road layby at Ifo area of Ogun State.
Egbeyemi said, “It was after they refused to stop that our officers ran after them before they were caught at Cappa after abandoning the tricycle on the road.”
Urging residents to be careful and to take proper care of their belongings, Egbeyemi said that during these ‘Ember Months,’ officers of the agency had been deployed to strategic locations across the State to protect life and properties of the citizens.
One of the suspects, Sodiq Sulaiman, an ex-convict, confessed that the tricycle was stolen at ‘Ifo’ and that it was being taken to one ‘Mallo’ at Idi-Oro for sale at an agreed sum of N40, 000 before they were arrested in Oshodi by the Task Force.
According to him “I was just released from Kirikiri prison last month where I spent seven months for not being able to produce a commercial tricycle given to me on hire purchase by the owner.”
“I was trained as a tricycle mechanic for four years at ‘Abekoko’ area of Oyo State before I came to Lagos in the year 2017 and started stealing phones, bags, including tricycles with one Saheed Ibrahim whom I met at ‘Akala’ area of Mushin.”
The second suspect, Saheed Ibrahim, a bricklayer, revealed that before both of them started stealing tricycles, they specialised in using motorcycles to rob innocent members of the public of their valuable items at night.
“We had stolen and sold more than 55 phones, jewellery, laptops and seven tricycles to one ‘Mallo’ at Idi-Oro area of Mushin. We sold all our stolen items to ‘Mallo’ and others at Ido-Oro and Akala area of Mushin”, he stated.
While confirming that the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Zubairu Muazu has directed that the two arrested suspects be immediately charged to court for prosecutions, Egbeyemi urged residents to be cautious and take proper care of their belongings during these ’ember months’.
