Palliatives: Lagos Police beefs up security around govt warehouses, shopping malls

Innocent Raphael

The Lagos State Police Command has disclosed that heavy security have been deployed to shopping malls and government warehouses where food items are stored in the metropolis to forestall any possible attack by miscreants.

The move is to forestall any attack on government warehouses and shopping complexes by miscreants who may take advantage of the current hardship and hunger in the country to break into facilities where food items are stored.

Recall that a warehouse belonging to the Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat in the Federal Capital Territory was broken into by hoodlums and a truck loaded with food items was looted by some residents of Dei-Dei in Bwari Local Area of the FCT.

Speaking after a security meeting with Principal Staff Officers (PSOs), Heads of Tactical Teams, Area Commanders and Divisional Police Officers (DPOs), the Lagos State police commissioner, Mrs Adegoke Fayoade, said plain-clothes policemen had been deployed to keep a close watch on shopping malls as well as key government installations in the state.

Fayoade also disclosed that all area commanders and their respective Divisional Police Officers have been placed on red alert to prevent any breakdown of law and order in any part of the metropolis.

“Operatives of the state’s anti-crime squad, the Rapid Response Squad (RRS), have also been directed to keep a close watch on government warehouses and shopping centres where food and beverages are sold,” she adeed.

In a related development, authorities of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in the Southwest region said its management had beefed up security around its warehouses in the region.

Also speaking, NEMA’s South West Territorial Coordinator, Ibrahim Farinloye, said they had also been directed to beef up security at all government installations in the region.

“All critical stakeholders are on standby for any attempt by anyone. Even though there isn’t a single food item in the warehouses, we are taking precautionary security measures to protect both human and other assets of the federal government from any unforeseen circumstance,” he said.