Lagos Taskforce apprehends notorious okada robbers

•Vows to fish out other criminals for prosecution
The Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Enforcement Agency (Task Force) have arrested one notorious Okada robber, Yusuf Lammeed, who specialises in robbing innocent members of the public in the early hours of the day across various parts of the state.

According to Director, Press & Public Affairs, Lagos Taskforce, Gbadeyan Abdulraheem, the suspect who was accompanied by two accomplices currently on the run, was arrested by the Taskforce operatives while trying to rob a lady who stood at the bus Stop at Ikeja Along, waiting for a bus at about 5:30a.m. on Friday. The lady, who screamed for help when approached by the suspects who were on a bike, alerted the officers on patrol along that axis, which led to a hot pursuit where one of them fell from the bike and was apprehended.

While confessing to the crime at the Taskforce Headquarters in Bolade Oshodi, the suspect revealed that he and his other gang members, Tribunal and Abbey of Mushin, have been into the business for over six months.

He said that the ban on the operations of Okada in the state had made the business a lot more difficult but they still carry out operations at intervals to steal phones and sell to their dealers in Mushin popularly known as Segun Scatter, Steven Memory, Kalimantan and Ejo.

Speaking on the arrest, Chairman of the agency, Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Shola Jejeloye said that the agency would do all within its power to ensure that crime will continually be made to be unlucrative for anyone still involved in it.

“Crime is not a career. We have made several efforts in the past and will intensify the efforts to ensure criminal elements in the state either flee from here or turn over a new leaf. We will be all out in 2023 to achieve our mandate of zero tolerance to criminality in the state.

Jejeloye warned miscreants, traffic offenders, environmental offenders, car snatchers, burglars, pickpockets, one-chance operators and others to have a rethink this year or they will have themselves to blame at the end of the day. He appealed to residents to report any criminal activities around them to the nearest police station or to the Agency.

Jejeloye assured Lagosians that a crack team had been assigned to fish out the other gang members who fled the scene of arrest and also apprehend the buyers of their loot. The arrested suspect will be charged to court accordingly.