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Nigerian police deploy units to tackle lockdown crimewave

Published 13/04/2020, 18:45
© Reuters.

LAGOS, April 13 (Reuters) - Nigerian police will immediately
deploy additional units to Lagos and Ogun states to combat an
upsurge of crime committed during a lockdown to halt the spread
of the new coronavirus.
Police spokesman Frank Mba said on Monday that the
intelligence, operational and tactical units would respond to
activity by "hoodlums and street urchins" on the border between
the two states.
Police have arrested 191 suspects in Lagos and Ogun, which
along with the capital territory of Abuja are under a federally
ordered lockdown that began on March 30. They also netted 15
locally-made guns, 52 live cartridges and 42 cutlasses and axes.
Other states in the nation of some 200 million people have
imposed their own containment measures, including lockdowns.
While health experts have said curtailing social and
economic activity is crucial for stemming the spread of the
novel virus, the restrictions have sparked some unrest as many
in Nigeria live on daily wages with no savings.
President Muhammadu Buhari is scheduled to address the
nation on Monday evening and announce whether the initial 14-day
lockdown period will be extended.
Mba said the inspector general of police had ordered police
commissioners nationwide to take steps "to effectively tackle
all emerging crimes associated with the COVID-19 lockdown".
"They are also to intensify patrols around residential
areas, markets, shopping malls and all critical national
infrastructures in their jurisdictions," he said.
Nigeria has confirmed 323 coronavirus cases, 179 of them in
Lagos state, and 10 people have died.

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