IG orders arrest of SARS men over shooting of FRSC officer

By Juliana Francis
The Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, has ordered the immediate arrest of a team of policemen from the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja, Lagos State, over the shooting of three persons, including a Road Safety official.
The shooting spree was said to have happened along Abuja route, while the team was returning from an investigation at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
According to a police source, the team was led by an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Mr. Rex.
It was heard that as the team was heading back to Lagos from Abuja, they reached part of the Abuja road, where a road construction was going on.
There they met a traffic gridlock. There were Road Safety officials on the road, controlling traffic. The Road Safety officials had also blocked part of the road, easing motorists through a single lane.
Apparently tired of the snail pace of the whole drive, the SARS team jumped down from their bus and flung away the barricade which the Road Safety officials had placed on the road.
This did not go down well with the Road Safety officials and soon there was a heated argument and before anyone knew what happening, one of the policemen opened fire.
A bullet was said to have hit one of the Road Safety officials, while two more bullets got a bus conductor and a passerby.
When the members of the team were arrested, Rex and others had initially wanted to accept the blame. But when it dawned on them that the IG was not taking the shooting incident with levity, Rex had had to make a tough decision. He picked the shooter from among his men.
The shooter had been identified as Corporal Abdulazzes Alabe.
A police source revealed that after the spate of shootings, the policemen knew they had injured people and possibly killed, they bolted from the scene.
Since they were not in uniform, but each had a rifle with them, many thought they were robbers and alerted Joint Task Force (JTF). A description of the vehicle was also given.
Just when the team thought they had escaped, JTF stopped them at Lokoja, Kogi State.
When the team realized that JTF were taking them as robbers fleeing from Abuja, they identified themselves and presented their police identity cards. They were handed over to the commissioner of police, Kogi State, who moved them to Abuja. They were all disarmed and detained.