A shrine allegedly used as
an illegal detention camp by suspected members of Odua People’s Congress, OPC,
in Opebi area of Lagos, where persons accused of different offences are
arrested, tortured and detained, has been uncovered by the Police.
Three suspected operators
of the shrine were arrested with a POS machine used to extort anyone found
guilty.
Also recovered in the shrine
were different banks Automated Teller Machine, ATM, cards and telephones
suspected to have been seized from victims.
Vanguard gathered that
people visited the shrine to lodge complaints, after which the accused is
either invited or forcefully dragged there.
Victims, according to
residents, were publicly tortured before being dragged inside the shrine to
swear.
The state Commissioner of
Police, Imohimi Edgal, who led a team of policemen to the shrine yesterday,
ordered its immediate demolition. He explained that Lagos State Neighbourhood
Security and Safety Corps, LSNSC, informed the Command of some suspicious movement
of persons in and out of the shrine, consequent upon which he directed the
Divisional Police Officer in charge of Ikeja to ascertain what was going on
there.
Addressing journalists at
the scene, Edgal said: “A team of undercover policemen, led by the DPO, mounted
surveillance around the area.
“Yesterday, officials of
the Neighbourhood Security Safely Corps saw a man, who was being dragged into
the shrine. “They were attracted to the place by the shout of help from the
victim and alerted the DPO, who moved his men to the scene where three persons
were arrested and the victim rescued. “In as much as we believe in community
policing and community partnership, I must sound a note of warning to any group
of persons who may want to take laws into their hands, that the command will
deal decisively with members of such groups.”
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