The Commissioner of Police in Lagos State, Zubair Muazu, on Monday declared that the level of crimes in the state has reduced drastically.
According to him, the reduction followed the robust crime prevention strategies put in place by the Lagos State Police command.
Muazu gave details of the achievement of the command in the last few months in the area of stemming the rate of crimes.
The statement reads in full:
Good morning Gentlemen of the Press and welcome to this Press briefing. Thank you for honouring our invitation. Lagos state has witnessed a huge reduction in violent crimes over the last few months. This could be attributed to the robust crime prevention strategies put in place by the Command.
Within the last one month, the Command arrested 40 armed robbery suspects, 29 suspects for cultism, and 19 suspects for murder. 19 firearms and 51 ammunition rounds of live ammunition were recovered. 31 armed robbery attempts were foiled.
Let me therefore, use this medium to appreciate Lagosians for their support to the Command in terms of providing us with credible information on criminal activities. And to all the media Houses in Lagos, we say thank you. Together we will continue to make Lagos state safe for everyone.
Below are some of our modest achievements in the last one month.
- Seven Dismissed Soldiers Arrested for Armed Robbery
The Command has received a lot of distress calls from residence of Ijegun and environ about the activities of some armed robbers who operate in military uniforms. One of such incidents happened on 18th February, 2019 at about 1635hours, where a Commuter who was travelling to Ibadan from ijegun was accosted by the said armed robbers who dispossessed him of his Lexus car RX330 Black in colour at gun point. It is on the strength of those complaints that we tasked our SARS Operatives to identify the gang and apprehend them. Members of the robbery gang were arrested at Ijegun, Baruwa Estate, Ipaja, Iyana-Paja, Ishashi and Ikotun areas of Lagos. They are: Ndidi Oluchukwu ‘m’ 30 years old, Owolabi Adeyemo ‘m’ 42 years old, David Olufemi ‘m’ 47 years old, Iseyin Samuel Isreal ‘m’ 41 years old, Emeka Ibeh ‘m’ 29 years old, Samuel Anochime ‘m’ 36 years old and Ebedot Stephen ‘m’ 27 years old. Investigation revealed that the suspects are dismissed soldiers. Items recovered from them include: twelve pairs of military camouflage uniforms, two cutlasses, ATM cards, military ID cards, jack knives, a female pant and a local ring. The suspects confessed to be responsible for series of robberies within Ijegun and its environs. The suspects will be charged to court.
- Arrest of 11 Notorious Traffic Robbery Suspects
On the 14th September, 2019 at about 0135hours a case of Armed Robbery was reported at Igando division by one Atolagbe Oyindamola ‘f’ of no 14 Alaka Street, Abule Oja, Yaba, Lagos, against one Ahmed Durojaiye ‘m’ 23yrs, Waheed Oseni ‘m’ 24yrs , Rilwan Moshood ‘m’ 27yrs and Taiwo Idowu ‘m’ 32yrs all known to be notorious armed robbers who specialise in snatching phones, money and other valuables from unsuspecting members of the public, mostly where there are gridlocks. They operate mostly on motorcycles. The four suspects were arrested and one locally made pistol was recovered. They also confessed to be members of Eiye confraternity. A follow up investigation by the State CID led to the arrest of additional seven suspects: Mosuru Mukaila ‘m’ 20yrs, Ahmed Oyebode ‘m’ 29yrs , Seyi Ogundele ‘m’ 36yrs, Ogunmola Akintayo ‘m’ 30yrs , Olatunji Segun ‘m’ 28yrs , Ayobami Olaniyi ‘m’ 20yrs and Oladimeji Mustapha ‘m’ 27yrs . They all confessed to be responsible for series of robberies at traffic points, bus stops, around Yabatech, Yaba, Ejigbo, Igando-Ikotun, Ipaja and Isolo areas of the state. Other items recovered include: one Tricycle, five Bajaj Motorcycles, two cutlasses and two phones. Investigation revealed that Ahmed Oyebode who is a cultist and motorcycle operator gives his bike out for robbery operations and he receives stolen phones & cash derived from the operations as reward. Seyi Ogundele and Ogunmola Akintayo are well known leaders of Eiye cult group in Ejigbo. The suspects will be charged to court.
- Arrest of 9 Notorious Armed Robbery Suspects and Recovery of Firearms
On the 28th August, 2019 at about 0420hours, information was received from a reliable source that some armed robbers were sighted at Berger bus stop and Bariga areas of Lagos, robbing passers-by of their valuables. SARS operatives and patrol teams from Ifako Police Station were mobilised to the scene. Three suspects namely, Jamiu Sanni ‘m’ alias Satban 27 years old, Idowu Omorodiom ‘m’ alias Sugar & Sugar 29 years old and Aliu Mukaila ‘m’ 15 years old were arrested and two locally made double barrel guns with six live cartridges were recovered from them. Investigation led to the arrest of five other members of the gang at Iwenle Street, Bariga, namely: Monsuru Kilani ‘m’ alias Siro 39 Years old, Azeez Quyum ‘m’ alias Falapa 21years old, Oladokun Timothy ‘m’ 24 Years old, Jamiu Jimoh ‘m’ alias Jamoni 31 Years old and Musiliu Adio ‘m’ 37 Years old. Two pump action guns, two double barrel guns and three single barrel guns with fourteen cartridges were recovered. The suspects also confessed to be members of Eiye confraternity terrorizing Bariga and Oworonshoki area of Lagos state. The suspects will be charged to court.
- Arrest of Awawa Boys Ring Leader
On 21st September, 2019 at about 0945hours, Operatives of Operation Crush attached to Area G Command, Ogba, arrested one Toby Akinbayo alias Scorpion. He is the number one in the hierarchy of Awawa Boys. Their strongholds are Agege, Dopemu, Elere, Ijaye-Ojokoro, Alakuko, Pen-Cinema, Abattoir, Iju and Oko-Oba. He is the most dreaded in the hierarchy of cult leaders and his gang is responsible for series of violent crimes and social disorders in the areas earlier mentioned. Two other members of his gang, namely Balogun Jide and Dolapo One were arrested. The suspects will be charged to court.
- Arrest of 3 suspects who specialise in blackmail
On the 17th September 2019 at about 1530hours suspects who prey on their victims especially married men by taking video recording of them with mischievous ladies and forcefully dispossess them of their valuables, were arrested. The suspects are Aspita Mercy ‘m’, Jonathan Ukonues Estreem ‘m’ and Emmanuella Ozeegi ‘f’. Their modus operandi is to lure their victims especially married men through unsolicited dating by Emmanuella Ozeegi and once she succeeds, she invites the victim to a hotel or residence of the kingpin, Aspita Mercy. The lady will then make a phone call to her master and they will immediately burst into the room, attack their victims and order the lady and victim to be naked for video recording. The victim will be searched and dispossessed of his valuables and be forced to write an undertaking for payment of ransom or be threatened with the video clips going viral. The suspects have confessed having two successful operations. In the recent attempt, the suspects lured one Musa a bureau de change agent to a hotel based on a request made by Emmanuella Ozeegi that she had some Euros currency at home which her brother brought from abroad and she wanted naira equivalent of two million. They were however arrested in the process. The suspects will be charged to court.
Once again, thank you and God bless you.
