Patience Ogbo/
In a bid to rid communities of cultism and hooliganism, the police in Lagos today paraded 100 persons suspected to be in various gangs and cult groups in the state.
According to the Lagos State commissioner of police (CP) Zubairu Muazu, who paraded the suspects at the State Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba, the arrests were the fruits of the Operation Flush that he launched on June 10, 2019.
He said, “Operation Puff Adder was launched earlier aimed at combating the menace of cultism and gangsterism in Lagos State. All the operations are intelligence driven. We identified over 10 cult groups and gangs in various parts of the state and took the battle to their door steps. Lagos State was in the past two weeks tense with apprehension of the activities of cultists come July 7th.
“The command through massive raids on cultists strongholds among other strategies successfully prevented any kind of activity or killings in the name of 7/7 celebration.100 cultists and gangsters were arrested within this period. We have charged 70 of them to court, while 30 are still under investigation. We recovered 4 Beretta pistols, with 7 live ammunition, one double barrel gun, 8 locally made pistols, 25 cutlasses and axes and other assorted weapons.”
One of the suspects who identified himself as Akin, said, “I am a member of the Aye confratenity. I am a musician and was invited to play music.”
Another suspect said he was training in the football field when he was arrested.
He said, “My name is Lawrence. I am a 200 Level student of Botany at the University of Lagos. I went to train when police from the Ejigbo police station came to arrest some cult boys having their fun in a hall inside the field. Police arrested over 200 of them but they arrested me too. Despite showing them that I am not a cultist they arrested me.”
