5th October, 2012
Officials of the Lagos State Taskforce on Environmental and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit have arrested 33 people for hanging on train, 21 hoodlums and 10 illegal lottery operators in Lagos State, Southwest Nigeria.
The 33 train hikers arrested in Ikeja and Agege areas by a combined team of taskforce and Railway Police Command on Thursday morning.
There have been outcry over the dangerous trend of hundreds of commuters hanging on train on daily basis across the Lagos metropolis.
The Nigeria Railway Corporation had sought the assistance of the taskforce to curb the dangerous trend, which informed the early morning raid on train hikers in Ikeja and Agege.
Taskforce Chairman, Bayo Sulaiman said the state government, through the taskforce would henceforth declare zero tolerance for hanging on train, vowing that anyone apprehended would be dealt with.
He said hanging on train constituted environmental nuisance which must not be allowed to go on unchallenged in a mega city like Lagos, adding that the taskforce would henceforth take over the arrest of train hikers from the railway corporation.
Sulaiman stated that apart from hanging on the train, some hoodlums now have meetings inside train where they smoke marijuana and drink alcohol.
The 33 train hikers have been arraigned at the Special Court at Alausa.
Also, the taskforce raided Oshodi on Thursday and arrested 21 suspected hoodlums. They might be charged to court today.
According to Sulaiman, the raid on hoodlums in the state would be continuous as government had vowed to rid Lagos off miscreants terrorising innocent people.
Ten illegal lottery operators were also arrested in Ikoyi area of Lagos by the taskforce for engaging in lottery business without being duly licensed to do so.
—Kazeem Ugbodaga