Hyacinth Chinweuba
The Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Unit (Task Force) on Monday nabbed two suspected impersonators of the Agency for extorting money from a motorist at Ojota, Lagos.
Disclosing details of the incident, Chairman of the Task Force, CSP Olayinka Egbeyemi said the two suspects were apprehended by the ‘Monitoring and Enforcement Team of the Agency after they had negotiated and collected N15,000 bribe.
Egbeyemi stated that preliminary interrogations revealed that the suspects presented themselves as officers of the Agency and arrested a motorist for traffic obstruction by Ojota bus-stop.
He said, “They arrested the owner of the vehicle for obstruction at Ojota, drove him down to Bolade bus-stop opposite Task Force office where they negotiated and collected the sum of N15,000 from him”.
According to Egbeyemi, the Agency also discovered that the suspects had perpetrated the act before saying, “We have severally received complaints from motorists, particularly commercial bus drivers, about activities of these unscrupulous fraudsters who specialise in impersonating officers of the Agency and defrauding people across the State”.
The Chairman reiterated that Police Officers attached to Lagos State Task Force enforcing traffic and environmental sanitation laws wear jackets with inscription of ‘LASG TASKFORCE’ for proper identification while on duty.
He clarified that only Lagos State Task Force and LASTMA are empowered by law to enforce traffic laws on ‘BRT’ corridors across the State.
While urging motorists to desist from giving bribe to traffic enforcement officers, the Chairman disclosed that the Lagos State Commissioner of Police CP Zubairu Muazu has directed that the arrested suspects, Ademola Oyegunwa (40yrs) and Olaogun Adamson (48yrs), who have both confessed to the crime, be arraigned immediately.
The 2 suspscts claimed to be making N50.000 to N70.000 from this illegal duties.