Lagos: Truckload of northern youth intercepted at Berger explain their mission

The Lagos state Taskforce has arrested no fewer than 123 young men packed in a truck along with 48 motorcycles—all the way from the north.

The state government confirmed the arrest on its verified Twitter handle on Friday.

The taskforce chairman Yinka Egbeyemi said the truck was intercepted after a security alert from the public.

He said his team responded to the information, which led to the seizure of the truck and its occupants at Agege area of Lagos.

“We swiftly responded to the alert and trailed the truck from the Berger area to Agege. We eventually intercepted the truck which carried no few than 123 men and 48 motorcycles.

“We have interrogated most of the truck’s occupants; from the information we gathered, some of them said they were coming from Jigawa State, with 48 of them claiming to own seized motorcycles.

“The rest of them said they came to Lagos in search of greener pasture”, he added.

He explained that nothing incriminating was found on them apart from the motorcycles.

One of the detained occupants, Shuaibu Haruna, said he left Jigawa State to work in Lagos with his motorcycle. He claimed to have a wife and a son, but said he needed to double his income to cater for his family.

Haruna said he intended to stay in Isolo area to which he had already paid N7,000 as accommodation fee.

Another occupant, Mohammed Ibrahim, said he left for Lagos—specifically Badagry—to keep himself busy after finishing his farm work.

Egbeyemi said the Lagos Police Command had directed that a fact-finding panel be constituted to profile the detained occupants of the truck.