Lagos: Task Force arrests 30 minors for sleeping at motor parks

The Lagos State Task Force on the Environment and Special Offences Unit on Friday paraded 84 suspected miscreants arrested from hideouts at Oshodi, a notorious point in Lagos State.
The miscreants were picked up from Oshodi Bus Stop, motor parks, garages and under the bridge at about 4.30am as part of the efforts by the Task Force officials to flush out criminals from the area.
The Task Force Chairman, Bayo Sulaimon, a Superintendent of Police, who led the operation, stated that the Task Force moved to check the criminals who were attacking commuters in the area.
Sulaimon said: “We arrested one of the miscreants with a toy gun, which he uses to attack commuters at the bus stop.
“Who will see this in the dark and will not believe that it is not a gun?”
Sulaimon stated that the 84 miscreants paraded included 30 under-aged male children, who would be transferred to one of the Lagos State Correctional Centres for Boys; 10 persons arrested more than three times by officials of the Task Force and 44 others.
Sulaimon lamented the large number of underaged miscreants arrested as he complained that they left their homes without their parents’ permission, adding: “They come to motor parks and garages and any available open space and turn it into their homes.”
Tajudeen Yusuf, 20, one of the miscreants allegedly arrested with pistol, said he was not a criminal.
He said: “I was relaxing with my friends at the Heritage Park.
“I don’t know anything.
“I saw the gun on the floor at the garage.
“I don’t know the owner of the gun.
“I have not seen gun since I was born.
“I don’t know where they sell it.
“I’m a professional barber, who owns a shop in the market.”
Another suspected miscreant, Wasiu Fashola, 16, said he left home after his parent allegedly disowned him.
Fashola said: “I am from Ogun State.
“I left home on November 1, 2012, in the company of my friend.
“I left home after my mother disowned me.”
The suspected miscreants are in the custody of the police pending their trial at the Special Court, Alausa.
Oshodi Bus Stop and under bridge are notorious hideouts for criminals, hoodlums and petty traders who display their wares on the busy road.
Residents and visitors to the state dread visiting Oshodi, especially under bridge, due to the rowdiness and criminal elements but this has become a thing of the past as a combined team of policemen and soldiers raided the areas in January 2009, destroying makeshift stalls and wares.
As a way of sustaining the tranquility in the area, a team of policemen and the Kick Against Indiscipline Brigade were stationed there to monitor the area.