Robberies: Lagos CP launches Operation Flush after PUNCH report

Idowu Owohunwa, Lagos Commissioner of Police.

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Following recent lamentations by some residents on the resurgence of robberies and other disturbances on Lagos streets and roads, the state Commissioner of Police, Idowu Owohunwa, on Thursday, held a meeting with all area commanders, divisional police officers, tactical commanders and other strategic officers.

The CP launched ‘Operation Flush’ to identify trouble spots, especially along construction areas, and flush out criminals, particularly traffic robbers and other miscreants.

This is following PUNCH Metro’s report on Thursday that residents were lamenting over what looked like a surge in armed robbery cases on Lagos streets and roads.

A statement by the state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, said during the Thursday meeting with area commanders, Owohunwa warned all the DPOs against dereliction of duty, vowing that any officer found culpable would be dealt with through laid down rules.

Hundeyin said, “He (the CP) equally charged them to review their respective security architecture towards improving security in their respective areas and stamping out completely all forms of traffic robbery and other vices.

“To further consolidate this stance, the CP has launched a state-wide operation designed to identify exact trouble spots, especially along construction areas, and flush out criminals, particularly traffic robbers and other miscreants. The operation code-named Operation Flush commences with immediate effect.”

The CP urged residents and visitors to the state to continue to support the police in the task of fighting crime and criminality by providing prompt information and giving all forms of assistance required of them.

PUNCH Metro had reported that on some streets such as Lawani Street, off Ishaga Road, Surulere, armed robbers stole cash and properties on the night of July 18, just as other residents said robbery cases were now extending to roads, including during daytime.

Residents in Abule Egba, Akowonjo also lamented robbery incidents in their areas by weapon-wielding hoodlums.

“They robbed the (Surulere) area that week and the week after it,” a resident, Biodun, told one of our correspondents on Wednesday.

A woman who identified herself simply as Mama Sarumi, a trader along Benesther Junction said the hoodlums arrived at Akowonjo around 2am on July 13 and shot indiscriminately.

“They came with one LT Volkswagen bus that had no number plate and when they came down, they started to shoot in the air. I lost my phone to them. They also robbed some of the people like me who sell here in the middle of the night and they collected phones and money from them. They were not even afraid of the police. They were not in a hurry. They just divided themselves into groups and were ‘obtaining’ people.

“Many people ran into Oke, Ajani Akingbogun and Alhaji Idowu Streets. I don’t think the police can match them because they were not afraid at all,” she had told PUNCH Metro.

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