Juliana Francis
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Idowu Owohunwa said that the recently launched ‘Operation Flush,’ aimed at stamping out crimes and criminals from the state has yielded fruit, leading to the arrest of 80 suspects in less than a week.
Owohunwa, who made this known during a media parley with security reporters in the state, said that the arrest was made by just one police division and that another division recovered an English Pistol.
He explained that all the police divisions in the state had started keying into raiding black spots, which is part of the aims and objectives of Operation Flush.
According to him, the division that arrested 80 suspects, also recovered illicit drugs.
He said: “Another division recovered an English Pistol. We will do the parade, but like we said, weekly we will be giving updates of these raids.”
Reacting to a news report by a national daily that the Orile area of the metropolis had been taken over by armed robbers, Owohunwa said he and his team were working towards checkmating the menace.
His words: “We have taken some actions. If you pass through there, you’ll see it, and we’re going to have a permanent deployment of police team along that stretch of the road.
“I didn’t stop there, I had to call on the local government chairman. The truth is that the place isn’t under construction. I think the best way to manage it is to have palliative measures, like filling the pothole with gravel. These criminals capitalising on the bad patch of the road to rob people. Also, we are going to continue to carry out raids to complement all these efforts.”
It will be recalled that Operation Flush was launched just last week and in less than a week the police had raided some suspected blackspots, arrested over 80 suspects, and recovered a pistol and illicit drugs.
The launching of ‘Operation Flush’ became necessary following recent agitations by some residents of Lagos State concerning complaints of the resurgence of traffic robberies and other disturbances.
Owohunwa on July 27, 2023, summoned a meeting with all Area Commanders, Divisional Police Officers (DPOs), Tactical Commanders, and other strategic officers.
At the meeting, Owohunwa, unequivocally warned all DPOs against dereliction of duty, vowing that any officer found culpable would be dealt with by laid down rules.
He equally charged them to review their respective security architecture towards improving security in their respective AORs and stamping out completely all forms of traffic robbery and other vices.
