CITIZENS COMPASS—In its bid to rid Lagos State of criminal elements and maintain safety and sanity as enshrined in the THEMES PLUS agenda Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, the Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit(Taskforce),
the Lagos State Taskforce has commenced the second phase of raids of criminal hideouts across strategic areas in the metropolis.
The Chairman of the Agency, CSP Shola Jejeloye disclosed this on Tuesday, October 17, 2023.
Speaking on the series of raids carried out across the State, he said that they are part of the planned actions mapped out by the Agency to further maintain safety and serenity across every nook and cranny of the State.
He said that multiple raids together with surveillance, patrols and other security tactics had all been implemented in the past quarters of Y2023 which has led to planned strategic operations for the final quarter of the year.
According to him, “Its our job and responsibility to ensure that criminal elements in Lagos do not have it easy and that is why we constantly raid their hideouts after carrying out surveillance activities to acertain the exact location where they operate from.
In the last one week, we have arrested 56 suspects from different locations like Moshalashi Agege, Okekoto, Ojota, Oshodi and Iyana Ipaja.
CSP Jejeloye further confirmed that harmful weapons like jack knives, adjusted spark plugs and sharpened screw drivers were recovered from some of the suspected miscreants rounded up at Agege.
It is not new to find substances suspected to be hard drugs like cannabis or heroin in the possession of some of these individuals rounded up.
“One of them even threw out a pack of cannabis from the vehicle after he was arrested and was being transported down to our office, but we noticed and stopped the vehicle to recover the item which will be tendered in court as evidence”
The Chairman also stated that the Agency would pay more attention to Ojota axis due to the number of hard drugs recovered in the raid carried out last night.
He decried the rate at which some of the miscreants arrested uttered incoherent words as a result of the hard drugs they had ingested.
“The effects of hard drugs on any individual is that it alters the ability to think or reason properly thats why most hoodlums who ingest such resort to crime. We recovered a reasonable amount hard drugs from the 15 suspects apprehended at Ojota alone and i must confess it is quite disheartening seeing these set of youths take to life of crime”. Jejeloye stated.
CSP Jejeloye disclosed that all suspects arrested during the raids will be profiled accordingly and anyone found suspicious will be charged to court accordingly.
He assured Lagosians that the Agency will continually adopt all legal security methods and strategies in ensuring that residents can sleep with both eyes closed. He warned criminal elements, especially those who lurk in the shadows looking for who to prey on that the long arm of the law will catch up with them soon and they will be made to answer for their crimes.
“Criminality will be stamped out for good and we will not rest until that is finally achieved” he concluded.
