LASTMA arrests 6 ‘one-chance’ robbers, recovers 77 stolen phones, others

The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) has apprehended six suspected members of a notorious “one-chance” syndicate operating beneath the Ijora Bridge corridor in the state.

The LASTMA spokesperson, Adebayo Taofiq, disclosed this in a statement issued on Friday, October 24, 2025.

Taofiq said the suspects were apprehended on Thursday, October 23, adding that 77 assorted mobile phones, two POS machines, multiple wristwatches, and other personal effects believed to have been forcibly taken from unsuspecting commuters and pedestrians were recovered from the suspects.

He said operation, led by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Transportation, Sola Giwa, featured a strong coalition of enforcement operatives drawn from the Nigeria Police Force, Mobile Police (MOPOL), Lagos State Task Force, Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC), and the Nigerian Army.

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He said investigations revealed that the Ijora under-bridge axis had long served as a criminal enclave, accommodating miscreants, illegal traders, and “one-chance” syndicates who specialise in orchestrated theft, violent assaults, and dispossession of innocent citizens.

The LASTMA spokesman noted that the area had also evolved into a clandestine storage hub for stolen valuables and contraband goods.

Taofiq stated: “During the operation, enforcement personnel also discovered and confiscated several kegs of adulterated diesel and over 150 packs of expired plantain chips and Cheese Balls, which were being hoarded under unsanitary conditions posing grave threats to public health and the environment.

“In addition, the joint task team successfully demolished over 120 illegal shanties, including structures erected along the perimeter fence of St. Peter’s Catholic Nursery and Primary School, Apapa Road, thereby reclaiming the area’s urban integrity and restoring its aesthetic order.”

The Star