Lagos police commissioner, Zubairu Muazu says the arrested Northern youth and Okada cycles were carried out as a preemptive security measure against the backdrop of worsening insecurity across the country.
The 911 truck was riding into Lagos yesterday afternoon when police and Lagos government officials pulled it beside the road and ordered all occupants to alight.
The citizens, who were mostly young, had squeezed themselves among a cluster of motorbikes they were bringing into Lagos with them.
Lagos authorities did not immediately say whether anything was found on the arrested citizens that could indicate they were a security threat.
“When you have people coming into Lagos en masse, you have a duty to accost them and profile them and find out who they are, where they are coming from and what is their mission in Lagos,” Mr Muazu said.
“The movement is suspicious: They are not cows, and they are not yams, but they are coming in just like that. They could even be victims of human trafficking,” he added.
The police chief said about 140 persons were arrested and taken into custody on Friday from the single truck.
But he was unable to categorically say whether detectives found any sinister plots against them or when they would be released after being profiled.
“I have detailed some officers to thoroughly investigate the incident and submit their report to me in a short period of time, but I have not heard back from them as of this morning,” the commissioner said.
Lagos has become one of the main spots for relentless monitoring by security agencies since Boko Haram crisis began 10 years ago.
Still, a large number of okada riders in the nation’s commercial capital came from the northern parts of the country.
The state has grappled with high crime rates, especially armed robbery, burglary and pickpocketing, for several years, many of which had been regularly linked to commercial motorcyclists.
The criminal acts, as well as traffic disruptions, linked to commercial motorcyclists compelled the state to introduce heavy restrictions in the sector between 2011 and 2012.
The restrictions further complicated movements for the state’s nearly 20 million people, most of whom rely on commercial transportation.