Officials of Lagos Rapid Response Squad (RRS) have arrested three traffic robbers at Ikeja City Mall and four others at Mile 2 Park with assistance of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) members.
Four of the suspects, Segun Peters (22), Kabiru Odeh (25), Nurudeen Suraj (22) and Dennis Ikuvbogie (24) were arrested at Mile 2, while having a field day; other suspects, Anifowoshe Kolawole (20), Patrick Ameke (21) and John Britto (27) were picked around Ikeja City Mall, based on complaints on their illicit activities around the area.
Commander, Rapid Response Squad (RRS), CSP Olayinka Egbeyemi, had on a tip off on the activities of traffic robbers in Mile 2, deployed plain cloth policemen to the area to monitor and arrest the suspects.
The Guardian learnt that members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) had hounded down the four suspects before the officers got there.
The suspects were thereafter handed over to the police for investigation and prosecution.
One of the suspects, Nurudeen Suraj, who was arrested barely a week ago and detained at Agboju Police Station, said he was released from prison two months ago.
Those arrested in Ikeja were picked up after a petition by the management of Ikeja City Mall on reported incidents of traffic robbery in the area.
According to a police source, the suspects, who were placed under close monitoring before their arrest, on most occasions pretend to be beggars and nose mask vendors.
“They used the ploy to rob motorists and pedestrians visiting the complex. One of the suspects, Anifowsoshe Kolawole, who had been warned on many occasions by policemen pleaded for leniency,” the source said.
MEANWHILE, the Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Alabi, has commended the civilians, who provided the intelligence to the police as well as those, who assisted the police in arresting the suspects.
He stressed the state would become safer, if people co-operated with the police.
