The police officer who allegedly shot dead a tanker driver in Apapa, Lagos, has been arrested and taken into custody, the Lagos State Police Command has said.
In a statement on Wednesday, the police said the officer was arrested alongside 18 suspected hoodlums who set a commercial bank ablaze.
Olarinde Famous-Cole, the police spokesperson, said the Command received a distress call from the Chief Security Officer, CSO of a new generation bank in Apapa.
“The caller said hoodlums were trying to take laws into their hands by setting the bank ablaze following the shooting of a tank driver by a policeman, attached to the bank after an altercation,” Famous-Cole said.
Chaos had erupted in the area on Wednesday morning after a mobile police officer shot a tanker driver and fled into a commercial bank.
An irate mob, which included tanker drivers and truck boys numbering over 50, set the bank ablaze after the bank’s security team refused to hand over the police officer.
The mob razed two banks, a Sterling Bank branch and a Diamond Bank branch, in the area.
A witness had earlier said that police officers regularly extort money from the tanker drivers whose vehicles are often parked along the road.
“The tanker drivers usually line their vehicles along the road and police will come to collect money from them, those that refuse to part with money will have their tyres deflated,” the witness had said.
In his statement, the police spokesperson said operatives of the command including the Area Commander Apapa, the Rapid Response Squad, RRS and other security agents quickly rushed to the scene to take charge of the situation.
The state’s Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, was also present at the scene of the incident, he added.
Famous-Cole, an assistant superintendent of police, said the prompt intervention of the police minimised the havoc wreaked by the mob who destroyed private properties and valuables in the violence, adding that the fire at the banks was put out by the police and other security agencies.
He said the tanker driver, identified as Azeez, was rushed immediately to the hospital for treatment but was confirmed dead on arrival.
“Contrary to reports making rounds in the news, only one tanker driver was shot. The policeman has been arrested and would be charged to court immediately. But we are no longer going to tolerate the act of lawlessness and impunity by members of the public,” the statement said.