Task Force arrests 2 for impersonation, extortion

LAGOS State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Unit (Task Force) said on Monday that it arrested two suspects for impersonating officers of the agency and extorting money from a motorist at Ojota, Lagos for negotiating and collecting N15,000 bribe.

The suspects are Ademola Oyegunwa (40yrs) and Olaogun Adamson (48yrs).

Task Force chairman, CSP Olayinka Egbeyemi, disclosed this in a release made available to newsmen, saying the two suspects were apprehended by the Monitoring and Enforcement Team of the agency after they had negotiated and collected the sum as a bribe.

According to him, preliminary interrogation revealed that the suspects presented themselves as Task Force officers and arrested a motorist for alleged traffic obstruction by Ojota bus-stop.

“They arrested the owner of the vehicle for obstruction at Ojota, drove him down to Bolade Bus-stop opposite Task Force office where they negotiated and collected the sum of N15,000 from him,” Egbeyemi said.

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He said further investigation showed that the suspects had perpetrated same act severally in the past, making between N50,000 to N70,000 from this illegal duties daily.

“We have severally received complaints from motorists, particularly commercial bus drivers, about activities of these unscrupulous fraudsters who specialise in impersonating officers of the agency and defrauding people across the state,” he said.

Egbeyemi reiterated that for proper identification while on duty, police officers attached to Task Force enforcing traffic and environmental sanitation laws always deck jackets with the inscription: “LASG TASKFORCE.”

Egbeyemi clarified that only Lagos State Task Force and LASTMA were empowered by law to enforce traffic laws on ‘BRT’ corridors across the state.

While urging motorists to desist from giving bribe to traffic enforcement officers, the Task Force boss disclosed that the State Commissioner of Police, CP Zubairu Muazu, had directed that the arrested suspects be arraigned immediately for prosecution.