No fewer than 35 miscreants were apprehended by police operatives from Area ‘A’ Command at the Marina car park, where NASFAT organized a 10-day Ramadan night prayer.
An authoritative source revealed that the police in Area A received distress calls from different people reporting that some notorious youths, dressed in white Jalamiyah, pretending to be worshippers, were attacking Muslim faithfuls who came for the prayer.
According to the source, “Calls were made to all the divisional police stations on the island and the area command. This prompted the Area Commander to send different teams from stations to provide security for the true believers and arrest the miscreants.”
“When we got there, we found two different groups of miscreants pelting each other with bottles, broken ties, and other dangerous weapons.
“Unfortunately for them, some plainclothes policemen had demarcated a boundary between the real worshippers and the miscreants. When we arrived on the main road, they quickly pulled down their long prayer dresses to deceive us and tried to run inside, but were blocked by plainclothes officers. That was how we nabbed them,” the source revealed.
He said that some of them found to be guilty have been taken to court for prosecution, while those who are innocent but caught among them were released on bail with undertakings signed by their respective parents.
Some youths who spoke with our correspondent under anonymity revealed that the majority of the arrested youths are former rivals from different areas on the island but use the Tahajjud prayer ground as a battlefield.
“Some of them are from Isale Eko, Apongbon, Offin, Agarawu, Obadina, Oshodi, Freeman areas, to mention a few,” he revealed.
The source said, “In fact, we appreciate the prompt response of the police who came in time to curb their terrorist acts,” alleging that the miscreants used the opportunity to rob, and women were raped.
Since the police intervention on Thursday night, peace has been restored, and the presence of policemen is felt in the area from night till the early morning.
