Lagos State Police Command has uncovered a factory inside the Police College in Ikeja, where police uniforms and other accessories, are illegally produced and sold.
Police arrested four persons, all women, among them two nursing mothers. Several police uniforms with different ranks, badges, belts, boots cardigans, caps and force numbers were recovered from the suspects.
According to Vanguard, investigation was still on to ascertain whether the force numbers were authentic. The arrest came on the heels of petitions to the Inspector-General of Police, IG, Idris Ibrahim, following which he instituted a panel of inquiry headed by a retired IG.
Part of the panel’s recommendations include request that the Lagos State Police Command investigate the matter. Consequently, the X-Squad of the command, headed by Mr. Bode Fakeye, was directed by the state Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, to clamp down on suspected perpetrators of the illegal act.
The suspects, during interrogation, admitted to the claim but refused to mention names of their buyers. Spokesperson for the command, Dolapo Badmus, who confirmed the arrest, said:
“The CP ordered the officer-in-charge of X-Squad to investigate, after the case was referred to us from the Police High Command, Abuja. When he finally investigated and found out that it was true, the CP ordered the arrest of the suspects and seizure of the materials.”
She added that the suspects would be arraigned in court today on a “two-count charge of conspiracy and unlawful possession and sales of police kits contrary to Section 328, Sub-sections A, B, C and D of Lagos State, 2011.”