Concerned residents of Ipaja, Ayobo, Alagbado, and other parts of communities under Area P Command in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State have accused men of the Area Command, of unlawful arrest and detention.
The aggrieved residents, who are mainly youths, said the operatives of the command have been carrying out ‘unlawful’ raids in the neighbourhoods and extorting innocent residents through money for bail.
They claimed that operatives of the Area P Command arrested residents in front of their residences without any offence being committed and collected money for bail.
They claimed the illegal arrests had been going on for several weeks.
The spokesman of the youths, Raheem. Kamar said: ” We are no longer living in fear of robbers but that of operatives of the Area P Command at Abesan, who have been constantly raiding neighbourhoods and arresting innocent residents in front of their residences.
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“They arrest residents and demand a huge sum of money before releasing them. Recently, two men were picked up while they were relaxing in front of their house at Ipaja, it took the intervention of a community leader to secure their release after paying thousands of Naira for their bail.
He added:” We are calling the attention of the state police Command to the atrocious conduct of the Area P operatives because the Area Commander, Mr. Olanrewaju Idowu has not been able to stop his men from this mindless arrest and extortion.”
The spokesman of the Lagos Police Command, Mr. Benjamin Hundeyin said: “While all of these allegations may be true, the fact remains that these victims have not reached out to the Area Commander or PPRO, nor have they reached any of our complaint channels.
“These channels were created to check such excesses. Nonetheless, this is being taken up with the Area Commander to ascertain its veracity and for further necessary action.”