Policemen attached to the Lagos State Taskforce on Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences have arrested 28 suspected miscreants and 15 illegal street traders at various locations around Afrika Shrine, Alausa, Ikeja.
Chairman of the taskforce, Olayinka Egbeyemi, disclosed this in a statement by the agency’s head of public affairs, Adebayo Taofiq, on Sunday.
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Mr Egbeyemi said the raid was due to the nefarious acts within the vicinity of the Afrika Shrine which presented negative image to tourists and residents of Lagos.
“Operatives of the Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Unit, over the weekend, raided all streets within Central Business District including surroundings of the ‘African Shrine’, Alausa, Ikeja.
“The enforcement operations became imperative following complaints from members of the public about the criminal activities of miscreants and environmental nuisance of illegal street traders around the Shrine,” he said.
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According to the chairman, the night operation was carried out around spots where drugs like Tramadol, Codeine, Skunk, marijuana, Illegal liquor and assorted food are sold.
“These consumable and non-consumable items are freely sold on the streets in defiance of security agencies and government authority,” he said.
Egbeyemi maintained that the enforcement operations would be a continuous exercise in line with the vision of the present administration to rid the state of street urchins and criminals.
“The Lagos State Government has vowed to sustain the security onslaught on all areas identified as criminal hideouts and hard drug outlets across the state, especially within the metropolis,” he said.
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One of those arrested, Tunde Babalola, who was allegedly caught with a bag of substance suspected to be Indian hemp, was said to have confessed he had been selling hard drugs for eight years.
Mr Babalola reportedly said he makes an average profit between N60,000 and N100,000 weekly from customers around Obalende, Akala, Mushin, Bariga and Ikeja.
Another trader, Abike Adeyemi, said that she pays N1,900 every week to a representative of Ikeja Local Government from the sale of addictive substances around the shrine.
Egbeyemi said that the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, CP Zubairu Muazu, has directed that all those arrested be immediately prosecuted.
