Police worry over forceful seizure of pedestrians’ phones in Lagos by hoodlums

THE Lagos State Police Command has expressed worries over the new wave of crime in the state in which hoodlums would brazenly accost innocent commuters and forcefully seize their handsets for an exchange with money.

The state’s Commissioner of

Police, Adegoke Fayoade expressed this concern in reaction to various viral videos of the emerging activities of miscreants in parts of the state.

According to him, Area Commanders and Divisional Police Officers ( DPOS) have been given a marching order to ensure that such criminality never happened in their area of responsibility, vowing to be brutal with any of the officers found wanting.

Spokesperson for the Command, SP Benjamin Hundeyin said the CP gave the charge when he met with his area Commanders, DPOS, Tactical Commanders and other unit heads on Monday.

He said the police boss thanked various persons who recorded the video, which brought the menace to his knowledge, adding that in spite of the persistence of random raids in the state, such still continued.

Hundeyin added the police boss has ordered that the 303 suspects arrested over the weekend should be prosecuted without further delay.

He said: “CP Adegoke Fayoade has received with concern reports that young men in certain parts of Lagos State seize passersby’s phones to extort them despite the sustained raids being carried out by officers and men of the Command.

“CP Fayoade has, therefore, directed all Area Commanders and Divisional Police Officers ( DPOS), especially in identified areas to redouble security architecture and enhance their neighborhood and foot patrol within their areas of responsibility ( AORS) to tackle this emerging menace.

“The CP has further warned that any officer in whose AOR such an incident occurs again would be severely sanctioned, assuring that the Command remains unrelenting in its resolve and determination to continue to stamp out, and make the public space hot for criminal elements.