Begin enforcement of IGP’s ban on SPY number plates, CP charges
Operatives of Lagos State Rapid Response Squad (RRS), yesterday, at about 3:00 a.m. arrested two suspected vandals with a pile of already cut railings and a hacksaw on the overhead bridge at the Trade Fair Complex, Ojo, Lagos.
The suspects are 22-year-old Abdullateef Abdulrahim and 16-year-old Aliyu Lawan. The Commander of RRS, Olayinka Egbeyemi, had in response to credible intelligence on crime in the area directed an operation that led to the arrest of the suspects.
According to the State Police spokesperson, Benjamin Hundeyin, the Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Alabi, has directed that the case be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID) Yaba, for further investigation to detect and crush the criminal network behind the incessant destruction of infrastructure and their eventual prosecution.
Also, CP Alabi has directed the commencement of the enforcement of the total ban on the use of Police SPY number plates by the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, within Lagos State.
To this end, the Command requested all persons currently in possession of such plates to forthwith discontinue their usage. In a statement yesterday, Hundeyin, said as part of the enforcement, the plates will be confiscated by the Police and other security agencies wherever they are seen.
“Users of these plates are to cooperate with security agencies in this regard.
“In line with the SOPs of the ban and its enforcement, no user of these plates is to be arrested, except where such a user resists the removal and confiscation of the plate or assaults security agents in the process. It is to be noted that it is immaterial that the number plates were duly acquired and appropriately used, as all authorisations have been revoked.
“The Lagos State Police Command calls on all concerned to give maximum support in the enforcement as the development is geared towards improving internal security in the country.”
