gunby ‘Jola Sotubo

An insight has been given into the operations of robbers who waylay their victims on expressways.

The police in Ogun have retrieved some huge nail-shaped rods which are buried under roads by robbers to damage the cars of innocent motorists leaving them vulnerable to attacks.

The rods were recovered along the Abeokuta/Sagamu Expressway by the security operatives.

Vanguard reports:

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, in a statement said the command’s anti‑robbery team attached to the expressway on patrol recovered the dangerous items allegedly planted by hoodlums along the road.

The command also said the highway patrol team attached to Ijebu Ode/Benin expressway has arrested four suspects, Oluwaseun Oladapo, Julius Tepe, Kamoru Moruf and Surajudeen Busari, while on its routine express patrol along the expressway.

Speaking on the arrest of the suspects, Adejobi explained that the team flagged down one Honda Accord car with number plate Lagos AAA 219 BP, with the aforementioned occupants at Ososa area along the expressway.

He said the attitudes of the occupants raised a suspicion that led to their arrest and they could not give any satisfactory explanation on the ownership of the vehicle.

He said: “It would be recalled that hoodlums have been using this technique to destroy tyres on highways, thus robbing their victims (commuters) of their belongings. This prompted the command to re-strategise and put the axis under surveillance before their ‘weapons’ were discovered.

“The command restated its commitment to wage wars against highway robbers and other criminals in the state. The Commissioner of Police Ogun State, CP Ikemefuna Okoye has reassured the people of Ogun State and those on transit in the state of adequate security of lives and property particularly on our highways.

“The commissioner has ordered the Area Commander Sagamu, Assistant Commissioner of Police Lanre Bankole and his Ijebu Ode counterpart, ACP Mudashiru Abdullahi to investigate the two cases respectively and make sure they apprehend those involved in the acts of planting heavy nail‑like objects on the roads all over their areas particularly Lagos/Ibadan and Ijebu Ode/Benin Expressways that pass through the two area commands in the state.