A 27-year-old man who goes home with a minimum of Fifty Thousand Naira (N50,000) everyday, through the criminal act of impersonating as an operative of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, has been arrested.
Fully-kitted in LASTMA accoutrements, the suspect, David Oluchkwu, was caught pants down on Wednesday, December 14, 2022 in the Lekki area of Lagos State by the Agency’s patrol team, monitoring and controlling traffic on that axis.
The Agency’s Director of Public Affairs Department, Adebayo Taofig, disclosed in a press statement that preliminary investigations conducted by the Agency revealed that Oluchukwu belonged to a criminal gang that had been extorting motorists of huge sums of money for various traffic offences, ranging from seat-belt, obstructions, illegal over-taking and driving against traffic.
Adebayo quoted the Agency’s General Manager, Bolaji Oreagba, as saying that, “the suspect was apprehended after our patrol team sighted him fully kitted in LASTMA uniform on a black jean, collecting money from commercial bus drivers, who were discharging and picking passengers on an unapproved bus-stop under the Lekki bridge”
Oreagba, according the statement, was bemused at the incident, saying “It is disheartening for some unscrupulous elements to impersonate as LASTMA officials to be extorting innocent motorists, thereby denting the good image of the Agency before the public”.
Consequently, the General Manager, has enjoined motorists to be wary of fake officers demanding money from them as, according to him, the Agency operates a cashless policy.
He added that, violators of traffic rules were charged to court with a ‘Referral Notice’, and warned those in the habit of impersonating the Agency to desist from such illegal acts as more surveillance personnel had been deployed to strategic locations to hunt for those extortionist, whose activities painted the Agency in bad light.
The Ukpu-born suspect in Anambra State, confessed to the crime, averring that, on daily basis, he made an average of N40,000 from the illegal traffic business.