Two armed robbery suspects have been arrested by detectives from Itire Division, Lagos State Police Command, for allegedly hijacking a truck carrying 40,000 litres of petrol, while four others reportedly escaped with bullet wounds.
The Herald gathered that suspects, Charles Obllomo, and Osita Onyeka, who were dressed in military camouflage, allegedly hijacked the DAF truck by intercepting the driver at a bad spot on the Mile-2 Oshodi expressway on December 28.
Bala Elkana, spokesman of the police in Lagos State, who confirmed the arrest, said at about 7pm on Saturday, while acting on the strength of information from a reliable source, police operatives from Itire Division led by the Divisional Police Officer, Barkfur Kromkyes, made the interception.
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Elkana said the truck driver and the conductor were rescued unhurt. He said: “The two suspects in police custody, Charles Obllomo and Osita Onyeka took possession of the truck. The driver and his conductor were sandwiched by the four men in military uniform in the Toyota Corolla.
“The truck was driving behind the Toyota Corolla and heading to an unknown destination before it was intercepted by the Police.”
Earlier, The Herald reported that the Lagos State Police Command said that over 100 armed robbery suspects were arrested on Mile 2-Badagry Expressway between January and August, 2019.
Mr Mohammed Ali, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations), Lagos State Police Command, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Monday.
He spoke in reaction to public complaints about incessant armed robbery on the Mile 2-Badagry Expressway.
Ali said that the command’s security strategies in the state were still in place, yielding positive results.
According to him, at peak periods, all Area Commanders and Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) are to monitor traffic situation under them, with a view to decongesting traffic and checking criminals operating during such period.
’Our major challenge on the Badagry expressway is the bad road and the articulated vehicles and tankers parked on the road from Mile 2. They are not helping security matter on that road. The tankers blocked the expressway. Heavy traffic is built up daily and that attracted robbers to operate.
‘’Yet our men are moving round to secure members of the public on that road. Our monitoring men are all in different parts of the metropolis,’’ he said.