Lagos traffic robberies back, angry motorists lament

Lagos traffic robberies back, angry motorists lament

Motorists have lamented the increasing cases of attacks by traffic robbers in some parts of Lagos State.

The complaint came a few weeks after the State Police Command launched a special operation code named “Operation Flush” to curb traffic robbery and other related crimes in the state.

The state Commissioner of Police, Idowu Owohunwa, in a meeting with all Area Commanders, Divisional Police Officers, Tactical Commanders, and other strategic officers on July 27, charged them to review their respective security architecture towards achieving the goal.

No fewer than 88 suspected criminals were arrested 24 hours after the launch of the special operation.

Some road users however complained that the trend was yet to decline, adding that traffic robbers still carry out their operation in some parts of the state unhindered.

Some victims of the new wave of traffic robberies also recounted their ordeals.

A motorist, Samson Olanrewaju, in an interview with our correspondent, on Monday said the robbers numbering up to seven robbed him and other motorists in the Iddo area, along the Third Mainland Bridge on Friday around 8.30pm.

Olanrewaju, who is the Deputy Chairman of the African Action Congress in the state, said, “I was coming back from work at Lekki, so I drove down the Third Mainland Bridge towards Ido, close to Ijora Olopa where the incident happened. There was light traffic. Those guys were robbing two cars ahead of me already. I couldn’t reverse because there was traffic. I immediately wound up the glass to at least protect myself.

“But as soon as they finished with those two cars, I just heard sounds from the two sides of my car, they broke the side windscreen and began demanding my phone and other things. They entered and removed money from my safe. They had cutlasses and knives. One of them removed everything in my safe, and made away with my power bank, an iPhone 6 and a laptop.”

Another victim, Adetunji, who said he fell victim the same night, said that he lost N15,000, a wallet, and his phone to the robbers.

“They took advantage of the traffic, came out of nowhere and started breaking people’s windows, they removed the side mirror of my car.

“My phone and N15,000 were gone. I later got home to find out that my wallet was also not where I placed it in the car. They are small boys, some of them teenagers,” he said.

Some of the areas identified as hotbeds for traffic robbery include Ketu, Abule-Egba, Ijora, Orile-Iganmu, Apapa and Apongbon.

A security expert, Akin Adeyi, said the police needed to deploy surveillance strategy both on the ground and in the air to complement current efforts.

“The police need to deploy their personnel to strategic places. I am talking about foot patrol, especially when there is traffic build-up. This is when they can now adopt the use of technology through surveillance cameras,” he said.

The state Police Public Relations Officer,  Benjamin Hundeyin, did not take the calls made to his mobile for comment on the story on Tuesday.

He had also yet to respond to the message sent to him on the matter as of the time of filing this report.