28th May, 2015
Kazeem Ugbodaga
Officials of the Lagos State Taskforce on Environmental and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit have arrested another 46 suspected hoodlums in Oshodi area of Lagos, southwest Nigeria.
Last week, the taskforce arrested 34 suspects in the same suburb in the wake of the resurgence of activities of hoodlums in the area after the general elections.
Among the 46 suspects arrested on Wednesday in Oshodi were seven underage boys and six females.
One of the female suspects was pregnant and also nursing a baby at the time she was arrested. She is also suffering from oedema, a disease which makes legs of pregnant women to swell. She was later released on compassionate ground.
The taskforce officials stormed Oshodi between 1:00pm and 2:00pm with Black Maria and armed policemen and immediately swung into action, arresting the suspects and taking them to their headquarters.
One of the arrested female suspects, Cecilia, 23, was said to have been caught selling hard drugs with her sister, Tracy.
Chairman of theTaskforce, Bayo Sulaiman, said Cecilia had been arrested three consecutive times, while Tracy said she ventured into drug business because she didn’t want to become a prostitute.
Sulaiman said the arrest was part of effort to maintain sanity in Oshodi, especially on the rail track from Ladipo Bus Stop to Cappa Bus stop, adding that the hoodlums were arrested following complaints received by the government over the continued terror they unleashed on pedestrians.
“There have been incessant complaints by residents of Oshodi over disturbance by hoodlums. The government would not allow the hoodlums return to Oshodi it cleared some years ago.
“One of the female hoodlums has been arrested three times while some were arrested for the first time. They were all arrested in Oshodi for constituting nuisance. They terrorise innocent citizens in the area.
“There is no hiding place for criminals and we will not hesitate to clamp down on them all. Those arrested were immediately charged to court but the underage boys among them will be referred to the correctional home for rehabilitation,” he said.