The Lagos State Police Command says it has arrested three youths in the Agbowa area of the state for allegedly snatching a suspected kidnapper from police operatives.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the fleeing suspected kidnapper had led a team of policemen attached to the anti-kidnapping squad of the command to the community sometime in December to conduct a search on his apartment when some youths attacked the team.
The youths were said to have removed a pair of handcuffs on the suspect’s hands, freed him and subsequently set ablaze a police patrol van that brought the suspect and the team to the area.
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, on Thursday said three policemen were seriously injured in the attack.
He, however, said the command would not want to disclose the identities of the suspects in order not to thwart efforts at arresting other fleeing hoodlums.
Owoseni said, “Some criminal elements under the guise of community youths attacked the police team, cut the handcuffs used to chain the suspect and librated him. Three of the operatives were injured while the police vehicle used by the team was burnt. A policeman is still in a hospital.
“Three of those who perpetrated the act have been arrested, but we don’t want to reveal their identities now in order not to jeopardize our investigation.”
Five suspected murderers of a youth killed sometime in September 2016, on Lagos Island, have also been arrested.
A video, showing a victim being hacked to death by some hoodlums had gone viral, prompting the police to launch a manhunt for the suspects.
The CP said, “Five of the people identified from the video have been apprehended. We are carrying out further investigation with a view to making sure that all the criminals involved in that murder are eventually apprehended. Like the case of Agbowa, we don’t want to parade them now so that we can use them to get other suspects at large.
“Between January 1 and 12, the command has been able to apprehend six suspected armed robbers. Three different types of sophisticated weapons were recovered from them. Four cult members were arrested and eight vehicles were recovered. We shall not relent to ensure that we get rid of criminal elements that disturb the smooth running of economic and social activities in Lagos.”