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Operatives of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) have arrested a fake LASTMA Traffic Officer, David Oluchukwu (27yrs), around the Lekki area of Lagos.
General Manager of the Authority, Mr. Bolaji Oreagba, confirmed this in a release by the Director, Public Affairs Department of LASTMA, Mr. Adebayo Taofiq.
Oreagba said that the suspect was nabbed by a LASTMA patrol team while on duty monitoring and controlling traffic around the Lekki axis.
He said preliminary investigations conducted by the agency revealed that the arrested suspect belonged to a criminal gang that had been extorting huge sums of money from innocent motorists apprehended for various traffic offences ranging from seatbelt, obstructions, illegal over-taking and one-way at different locations across the state.
According to Oreagba, “the suspect was apprehended after our patrol team sighted him fully kitted with a LASTMA uniform on a black jeans collecting money from different commercial bus drivers who were illegally dropping and picking passengers under the Lekki bridge.
“It is disheartening for some unscrupulous elements impersonating LASTMA officials and extorting money from innocent motorists thereby denting the good image of the agency before the public.”
The LASTMA boss urged motorists to be wary of fake officers demanding money from them, stating that the agency operates a cashless policy as any violators apprehended were charged to court with a ‘Referral Notice.’
He, however, warned those impersonators to desist from such illegal acts, warning that more surveillance personnel had been deployed to strategic locations to hunt for those extorting innocent motorists under the pretext of the agency.
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The statement disclosed that the arrested suspect had confessed to have been impersonating a LASTMA official and extorting money from different motorists, particularly commercial bus drivers apprehended for violating traffic laws across the state.
According to the statement, Oluchkwu who hailed from ‘Ukpu’ in Anambra State confessed further to making an average of N40,000 every day from the illegal traffic business, saying that the suspect with no fixed address had, however, appealed to the government to temper justice with mercy.
“Any motorists I catch driving against traffic (one-way) pay a minimum of N50,000 while other traffic violators were charged with different fines,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Director, Legal Department (LASTMA), Barr. Akerele Kehinde, disclosed that the arrested suspect would be charged to court on Thursday, 15th of December, 2022, in accordance with the Criminal Code Law of Lagos State.
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