By Desire Emmanuel
The Lagos State government on Monday, June 8, said it had arrested no fewer than 279 individuals it described as “criminals, hoodlums and miscreants.”
Among the 274 males and five females arrested by the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Agency were those it said got to the state aboard trucks and other vehicles used to transport animals and goods into various parts of the state.
The agency said its officers carried out a massive statewide raid of identified blackspots, criminal hideouts, and shanties across the metropolis between Sunday and Monday.
Speaking while parading the suspects at the agency’s headquarters in Bolade, Oshodi, on Monday, its General Manager, Ifalade Oyekan, warned criminals and other individuals with unlawful intentions to stay away from Lagos State or face the full weight of the law.
He disclosed that the exercise was intelligence-driven, leveraging the agency’s extensive network of community informants and operatives to identify blackspots and criminal hideouts in various parts of the state.
The General Manager added that they were arrested for various offences including theft, constituting public nuisance and other criminal activities, saying that many of them had no means of identification and could not provide verifiable residential addresses.
It was gathered that some of those arrested for constituting public nuisance were individuals who entered Lagos aboard lorries and vehicles used for transporting animals and goods into the state, just as the agency said Lagos State will not tolerate criminality or activities capable of undermining the peace and security enjoyed by residents.
The LNSA boss also disclosed that two of the suspects were apprehended while attempting to steal a submersible pumping machine from a residential apartment and several others were found in possession of weapons, including machetes and knives, as well as hard drugs and other prohibited items.
According to the agency, all those arrested had been transferred to the Lagos State Special Offences Mobile Court for further investigation and prosecution.
