Security Forces Go Tough On Criminals Operating Along Lagos-Ibadan Express Way
Security forces from Lagos State and Ogun State have joined hands to flush out criminal elements operating along Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
The operations of kidnappers in the area have caused panic and Ogun State Police Command has assured the general public that it has mapped out strategies to outrun the kidnappers and flush them out of their axis of operation.
The axes included Ogunmakin, Onigaari and Ishara where three victims were kidnapped on Sunday morning.
Responding to the move by the command to curb the renewed kidnap attacks, the state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi said that the command was not just starting operation along Lagos-Ibadan Highway.
“We have been everywhere along the road. We have our Operation Safer Highway, Federal Highway Patrol and teams of anti-kidnapping units there. What just happened was just an opportunistic drive by the hoodlums who saw an opportunity to strike when they saw a broken down vehicle being fixed,” he said.
Oyeyemi recalled the killing of two of the kidnappers at the same axis two months ago, with the recovery of two AK-47 rifles, saying: “We are not resting on our oars because we are not oblivious of the fact that Lagos-Ibadan Highway is one of the busiest roads in the country, and it is our duty to protect the lives of commuters on the road.
“We are making every effort to make sure that the hoodlums are fished for and flushed out.”
The PPRO also disclosed that the state Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, was at the place being used by the kidnappers to assess its security architecture, “and he has given the necessary directive to ensure that those hoodlums have no place to hibernate.
Oyeyemi added that operatives from the command also embarked on operations of combing the bush, saying “the forest is a very vast one linking Ogun and Oyo. We try as much as possible to involve border boundary security stakeholders such as vigilantes, local hunters, and others who know the terrains very well. And they have been assisting us. It was even through their efforts that we were able to locate their hideouts two months ago.’