Task Force to prosecute 12 suspects over attack on its operatives

Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Agency (Task Force) said it has concluded plans to prosecute 12 arrested suspects who attacked members of an enforcement team of the agency at Ketu-Alapere area of the state on Tuesday, damaging four of their vehicles in the process.

The agency’s driver, Ojo Tobiloba, who was fatally wounded during the attack is presently receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital.

Chairman of the agency, CSP Olayinka Egbeyemi, disclosed this on Tuesday while speaking on the unfortunate attack.

According to Egbeyemi, in a statement made available to newsmen by spokesperson of the agency, Mr. Taofiq Adebayo, the Task Force enforcement team and men of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) had responded to a distressed call that some protesters were about to burn down Alapere Police Station over the clampdown on commercial motorcycle operators plying illegal routes as directed by the Lagos State Commissioner of Police CP Hakeem Odumosu when the attack occurred.

ALSO READ: FG targets cultural exploration to achieve SDG’s

He explained that on getting to the scene around Alapere Police Station, the protesters came out en mass to attack the agency’s enforcement team with stones, Iron-rod, broken bottles and cutlasses, stressing that it was in the course of restoring peace and order in the area that the officers were injured and vehicles damaged.

The chairman confirmed that 38 suspects were initially arrested during the fracas, but 26 individuals were later released after thorough screening, adding that the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, CP Hakeem Odumosu, had since directed that the remaining 12 suspects were immediately charged to court.

“Let me state categorically that the battle line has been drawn with these illegal motorcyclists and to warn various associations regulating their operations to immediately call them to comply with the law as the government would no longer tolerate the slightest attack on any enforcement personnel forthwith,” he warned.

CSP Egbeyemi also revealed that the agency had impounded 493 commercial motorcycles and riders arrested after they were caught contravening the law by plying restricted routes around Alapere, Ketu and Mile-2 area of the state by the operatives of the agency with the support of men of the RRS on Monday.

The chairman, while informing that the agency’s driver, Tobiloba, who was severely wounded during that attack was presently in a hospital receiving treatment, reiterated the determination of the agency to ensure that all road users in the state abide by the stipulated traffic rules and regulation.