For flouting the ban order on some routes in Lagos State, more than three hundred Okada have been seized.

They were seized by operatives of the Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Taskforce in Oko-Oba, Local Airport Road and Abeokuta Expressway, which are all banned routes for commercial motorcycles.

The operatives also raided Jakande and Iyana Ejigbo axis where not less than one hundred and twenty okada cycles were impounded.

Taskforce Chairman, CSP Shola Jejeloye, said the enforcement would be continuous in order to deter stubborn riders.

CSP Jejeloye disclosed that though the level of compliance on Abeokuta Expressway is impressive, the agency still recorded confiscation of forty-five bikes along that axis in the past one week while one hundred and thirteen bikes were impounded at Oko-Oba and twenty-nine suspects were arrested.

According to him, fifteen bikes were also seized at Local Airport Road in Ikeja while eighty-two bikes were impounded at Apapa-Oshodi Expressway during the week-long raid.

In his words, the level of compliance of the ban on okada activities is very impressive but we still have some rebellious operators who ply in the evenings or sometimes weekends, thinking we are going to be relaxed at those times.

He said the had corrected that thought by impounding the bikes and arresting both riders and passengers who will be made to face the court immediately.

Jejeloye confirmed that an officer was on Monday injured by a knife-wielding butcher when on enforcement duty, noting that was part of the hazards they faced daily.

He said operatives also raided some abandoned buildings at Cameron Road, Lagos, where reports had been received about the activities of some suspected criminals who use such properties as safe haven.

The taskforce boss said intelligence reports have it that criminal elements in the area make use of the abandoned buildings as a take-off point and resting place before and after their acitivities that is why they have carried out the intense raids to put a stop to it.

He said they had arrested some suspects who will be interrogated and then brought before the Magistrate in court.

This is contained in a statement by Director, Press and Public Affairs, Gbadeyan Abdulraheem.