The Lagos State Police Command has arrested no fewer than 130 suspects in connection with the unrest and attacks by hoodlums in various parts of the state during the lockdown.
This followed a Metro’s story that residents of some communities in Ogun and Lagos states had turned themselves into vigilantes to resist attacks by hoodlums, including the Awawa Boys and One Million Boys, among others.
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The hoodlums had taken advantage of the lockdown occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic to dispossess unsuspecting members of the public of their valuables. Areas affected by the onslaught launched by the hoodlums in Lagos are Capitol Road, Amowo, Dopemu, Oko-Oba, Maroko, Abule-Egba, Ogba, Ejigbo and Agege.
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In a bid to curb the attacks, youths formed themselves into vigilante groups and reportedly clashed with some of the hoodlums, creating tension in some of the affected areas.
However, the suspects, made up of 123 males and seven females, who were arrested by police personnel from the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Panti, Yaba, and the New Oko-Oba, Oke-Odo, Abattoir and Maroko divisions, were paraded at the command headquarters, Ikeja.
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The state Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, said the suspects took advantage of the border towns connecting Lagos and Ogun states, adding that they were arrested in connection with the unrest in the state and for violating the lockdown order.
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Odumosu stated, “This thing started about three days ago, when miscreants in Ogun State decided to act above the law.
They tried to push their luck into Lagos State through the border towns, but we got the information early enough and deployed sufficient personnel of the command in the border towns and that made them not to infiltrate Lagos.”
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Odumosu added that he had gone round to restore confidence in the affected areas, but urged the residents not to take the law into their own hands.
