Lagos task force arrests 87 miscreants, 35 cultists

EIGHTY-SEVEN miscreants and 35 cult members arrested during an overnight operation carried out by operatives of the Lagos State Task Force on Environment around Idi-Oro, Akala and Mushin areas of Lagos, have been prosecuted.
Chairman of the Task Force, SP Olayinka Egbeyemi, who disclosed this, said the suspects were arrested following public complaints over their criminal activities.
Egbeyemi disclosed that the 35 cult members were arrested along with their gang leader, Sanju Agbabiaka, alias 120, during initiation of new members, called Omije Boys, around Akala area.
The Chairman explained that there had been series of complaints against the group by residents of innocent citizens being dispossessed of their valuables and raping of women, particularly young girls.
Egbeyemi, who confirmed that 10 females and 15 teenagers were among the arrested miscreants, disclosed that a para-military officer attached to the agency was injured with broken bottles during the operation.
He said that the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, had directed that all the arrested miscreants, including the 35 cultists, be charged to court immediately.

Suspects confess
One of the suspected cultists, aged 17, said: “It is my friend who lured me into being a member of Omije Boys in September 2016, after I dropped out of school.
“We have been involved in different criminal activities and I was recently released from Lagos State Remand Home on February 18, after my friend and I were caught during a robbery operation.
“We were sent to Lagos State Remand Home, Oregun, by a magistrate after we pleaded guilty to a robbery operation, where we broke into a shop and stole a 32-inch Plasma television and seven laptops at Fits Gate around Ikorodu.”
Another suspect, Tobi Atewogbola, 20, who was arrested at Idi-Oro, around 2a.m., said he belonged to a three-man gang that robbed people of their valuables, particularly phones and bags at Oshodi, when people are going to work and returning.

Charged
While 15 of the teenagers were ordered to be taken to Lagos Remand Home, Oregun, other miscreants including the 35 cultists, were charged before Magistrate Ojuromi Tosin and Magistrate Patrick Uwaka of the Lagos State Special Offences Court, Oshodi.