{"id":194489,"date":"2026-02-11T17:09:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T16:09:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members"},"modified":"2026-02-11T18:23:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T17:23:23","slug":"lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members","title":{"rendered":"Lagos Taskforce Arrests Suspected Omotaku Members"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Enforcement Unit has arrested two suspected members of the notorious street gang popularly known as Omotaku along the Oshodi\u2013Agunlejika\u2013Apapa Expressway.<\/p>\n<p>The arrest was confirmed on Tuesday by the Chairman of the agency, Mr Adetayo Akerele, in a statement issued by the Taskforce\u2019s spokesperson, Mr Raheem Gbadeyan.<\/p>\n<p>Akerele said the suspects were apprehended while allegedly extorting money from a motorist whose vehicle had broken down on the busy highway.<\/p>\n<p>He explained that the operation was carried out following actionable intelligence provided by a civic group, ICU \u2013 To Soul a Soul.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBased on the information received, our operatives immediately moved to the location and arrested the suspects in the process of extorting the motorist,\u201d Akerele stated.<\/p>\n<p>According to him, the suspects initially attempted to mislead operatives by claiming they were a bystander and a revenue official.<\/p>\n<p>However, preliminary investigations revealed that they were well-known members of the Omotaku syndicate.<\/p>\n<p>He noted that the duo had been on the agency\u2019s watchlist for some time, having allegedly evaded arrest on several occasions despite numerous complaints from members of the public.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have personally received several reports and online complaints about these individuals, who disguise themselves as legitimate operatives while carrying out criminal activities,\u201d Akerele said.<\/p>\n<p>He disclosed that one of the suspects confessed that the gang deliberately targets trucks and vehicles conveying goods from Apapa Port whenever they develop faults along the expressway.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe suspects usually pose as government revenue collectors, claiming they are offering protection from rival groups, before intimidating motorists with threats of vehicle seizure,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Akerele revealed that the second suspect admitted to deliberately obstructing drivers from accessing their vehicles as a tactic to instill fear and force them into negotiations.<\/p>\n<p>The Taskforce chairman assured residents that the suspects would be prosecuted in line with the law, stressing that the agency remains committed to sanitising Lagos roads.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis arrest should serve as a strong warning to criminal elements who hide under the guise of revenue enforcement. Lagos will not tolerate such activities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He urged members of the public to continue reporting suspicious activities through the agency\u2019s official channels or to the nearest police station, confirming that the suspects are currently in custody and will be charged to court.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Enforcement Unit has arrested two suspected members of the notorious street gang popularly known as Omotaku along the Oshodi\u2013Agunlejika\u2013Apapa Expressway. The arrest was confirmed on Tuesday by the Chairman of the agency, Mr Adetayo Akerele, in a statement issued by the Taskforce\u2019s spokesperson, Mr Raheem Gbadeyan. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":194488,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,30],"tags":[254],"class_list":["post-194489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lagos Taskforce Arrests Suspected Omotaku Members - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Enforcement Unit has arrested two suspected members of the notorious stre ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lagos Taskforce Arrests Suspected Omotaku Members\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Enforcement Unit has arrested two suspected members of the notorious stre ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-11T16:09:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-11T17:23:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/sm_1770830580.796775.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"681\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Lagos Taskforce Arrests Suspected Omotaku Members\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-11T16:09:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-11T17:23:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members\"},\"wordCount\":399,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/sm_1770830580.796775.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members\",\"name\":\"Lagos Taskforce Arrests Suspected Omotaku Members - Nigeria\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/sm_1770830580.796775.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-11T16:09:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-11T17:23:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Enforcement Unit has arrested two suspected members of the notorious stre ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/sm_1770830580.796775.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/sm_1770830580.796775.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":681,\"caption\":\"Lagos Taskforce Arrests Suspected Omotaku Members\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lagos Taskforce Arrests Suspected Omotaku Members\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\",\"name\":\"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lagos Taskforce Arrests Suspected Omotaku Members - Nigeria","description":"Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Enforcement Unit has arrested two suspected members of the notorious stre ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lagos Taskforce Arrests Suspected Omotaku Members","og_description":"Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Enforcement Unit has arrested two suspected members of the notorious stre ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members","og_site_name":"Nigeria","article_published_time":"2026-02-11T16:09:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-11T17:23:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":681,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/sm_1770830580.796775.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Lagos Taskforce Arrests Suspected Omotaku Members","datePublished":"2026-02-11T16:09:02+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-11T17:23:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members"},"wordCount":399,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/sm_1770830580.796775.jpg","keywords":["Nigeria"],"articleSection":["all news","Community"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members","name":"Lagos Taskforce Arrests Suspected Omotaku Members - Nigeria","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/sm_1770830580.796775.jpg","datePublished":"2026-02-11T16:09:02+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-11T17:23:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Enforcement Unit has arrested two suspected members of the notorious stre ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/sm_1770830580.796775.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/sm_1770830580.796775.jpg","width":1024,"height":681,"caption":"Lagos Taskforce Arrests Suspected Omotaku Members"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/lagos-taskforce-arrests-suspected-omotaku-members#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lagos Taskforce Arrests Suspected Omotaku Members"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/","name":"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}