The Lagos State Police Command arrested 2,176 suspects between September 2024 and January 2025.

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Olanrewaju Ishola, confirmed this on Saturday while briefing journalists on the command’s recent achievements.

Mr Ishola said the 2,176 suspects were arrested for various offences, including murder, kidnapping, and armed robbery, among others. He said all the suspects had been charged to court for prosecution.

In a breakdown of the arrest figure, Mr Ishola said four suspects, Emeka Akwara, 19; David Segun, 21; Samuel Ariori, 21; and Lukman Ariori, 19, who allegedly murdered an Uber driver, were apprehended.

Mr Ishola said some other murder suspects – Edmond Julius, 34; Abdullahi Umar, 32; and Saturday Oke, 40, were arrested for allegedly killing another Uber Driver, Oluwaseyi Fowler, on September 12.

The commissioner of police added that on October 15, the police also arrested two cultists, Samuel Ojenuga and Abdullahi Yusuf, members of the Aye confraternity, for alleged murder.

“Ojenuga confessed to the killing of 12 Eiye confraternity members at Orita School, Ijora Oloye Area of Lagos.

“His accomplice, Yusuf, also confessed to killing three persons at the railway crossing Ijora Badia, Lagos,” he said.

The police chief noted that, among the suspects, a notorious armed robbery syndicate led by one Fatai Lawal, a.k.a Bullet, operating between Ijora and Isashi, along Badagry Road, was arrested on September 28.

“This syndicate specialises in snatching vehicles, mobile phones and other personal belongings at gunpoint.

“Other members of the syndicate arrested are Magdalene Jackson, a female; Lawal Michael, Ibrahim Saliu, a.k.a gun-crosser, and Ayuba Amzat, 27.

“One locally-made single barrel gun with four cartridges, three mini-buses popularly called korope were robbed at gunpoint,” he said.

Similarly, the police boss said a gang of alleged robbers led by one Godwin Chukwuma, 23, and Solomon Balogun, 23, were also arrested.

“They have confessed to various robberies across the country, and one AK 47 with three rounds of live ammunition, two locally made double/single guns with four live cartridges were found on them,” he said.

Mr Ishola said that on November 22, a traffic robber, Oguche Sylvanus, 27, using an unregistered Faragon Bus with the Lagos State commercial colour to terrorise commuters along Ikorodu Road, was arrested.

“The Faragon bus with other personal effects were recovered, and the case has been charged to court,” said Mr Ishola.

The commissioner of police said three suspects were arrested for alleged kidnapping.

“The suspects’ mode of operation was to lure their victims through a Tinder app on social media, specifically Facebook, where they will make the victim a friend and ask them to come for a visit.

“In this particular case, the victim was lured to a particular house, N300,000 ransom was collected from the victim, and his phone was taken from him,” the CP said.

He also said that on October 23, the police arrested two kidnappers, Hassan Samson, 35 and Segun Akinola, 27, in the Era area of Ojo, Lagos and rescued the victim unhurt.

According to him, the police also arrested five suspects for allegedly kidnapping one Azeez Olosa at a dredging site called Pump and Sell, adding that the victim had, however, been rescued.

He said the police recovered firearms abandoned by the fleeing suspects.

“On November 5, at First Gate, Agidingbi, Ikeja, police intercepted men in a commercial shuttle bus without a registration number with one Stanley SMG rifle and 44 live ammunitions.

“On November 6, at Odo Eran Area of Idimu, men on patrol sighted men aboard a motorcycle, and following an effort to intercept them, the men absconded, abandoning a bag at the scene,” he said.

Mr Ishola said the bag contained one locally-made double-barrel pistol, two locally-made single-barrel pistols with two live cartridges and one empty shell.

“On October 29, at Ijeshatedo, a Lagos Suburb, some other suspects, on sighting the police, fled, leaving their bags at the scene, which contained one locally-made pistol with its own live cartridge.

“On December 27, at 14, Idunsagbe Street, Lagos Island, information was received that a bag was sighted on the rooftop at this address.

“The bag contained two AK 47 rifles with breach numbers 52573 and 4004855 and 07003-853 K2 assault rifles, all without magazine and ammunition,” Ishola said.

(NAN)