Lagos Task Force arrests pickpockets, hemp smokers

LAGOS State Environment and Special Offences Enforcement (Task Force) said it had within a week of relocation to its headquarters at Bolade, Oshodi, arrested 67 miscreants and impounded 75 motorcycles.

Chairman of the Task Force, SP Olayinka Egbeyemi, disclosed this at the weekend in a statement made available by the agency’s spokesperson, Mr. Taofiq Adebayo, declaring that the outfit was battle-ready to put an end to environmental nuisance across the state, particularly around Oshodi and its environs

Egbeyemi said that the 75 motorcycles popularly called okada were impounded because they were seen plying restricted routes around Oshodi.

He confirmed that the 67 arrested miscreants were pickpockets and hoodlums caught smoking Indian hemp on railway under Oshodi Bridge.

According to him, one of the arrested smokers, Ganiyu Ahmed (38), an indigene of Ibadan, Oyo State, admitted that he had been smoking Indian hemp in the market for long with others at night after picking pockets at Oshodi bus stop.

The Task Force chairman, while pleading with traders across the state to stop selling or displaying wares on road walkways and setbacks, warned those along Oshodi to Cappa (both sides)  to move their wares off the road setbacks and walkways, as any of them doing otherwise would be arrested and have his or her goods confiscated by the agency.

The chairman reiterated the commitment of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to make Lagos, especially Oshodi axis, a more friendly and sanitised environment.

He said the agency working in alliance with operatives of Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) was ready to commence general enforcement of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Laws within Oshodi and its environs today.

SP Egbeyemi hinted that he had strategised his work plans on enforcement, saying the agency was poised to make Oshodi and its environs more secure from criminals.