By Cyriacus Izuekwe.
The commissioner of police, Lagos State, Mr Fatai Owoseni, is deploying more police officers on the roads in Lagos State to fight traffic robbers.
CP Owoseni stated this on Tuesday during the parade of 42 suspected criminals at the State Command, Ikeja, Lagos. He said the police was determined to deal with traffic robbers and as such they have put certain measure in place.
He said one of the measures taken so far is the deployment of more officers on the roads especially in the traffic prone areas in the State. He noted that bad roads and hawking contribute to traffic robbery and warned hawkers to stay clear of the roads as there is law banning hawking. Owoseni said the police will henceforth enforce laws on street trading and any hawker found in the street will be arrested and prosecuted.
He also advised and warned motorists to desist from patronising hawkers as the laws on street trading did not protect them to buy from hawkers. He said also that apart from the law, buying from hawkers contribute to health challenges as they sell adulterated and expired products to motorists.
The CP also noted that motorists contribute to traffic congestion on the roads by not complying with the traffic light regulation. He observed that some motorists will operate their phones in the traffic and criminals will cash on the opportunity to rob. Owoseni said the issue of traffic robbery has reduced due to some measures put in place by the police.
He said some of the measures led to the arrest of over 144 suspects who usually stay at the strategic locations in the state from where they rob motorists. He said all the black spots where the robbers operate have been taken over by the police and are permanently there to forestall any robbery. He solicited for the support of the public by providing useful information to the police.
Owoseni also said the police was dealing with the activities of cultists, motorcycles operators and other criminal activities in the state.