By Akinwale Kasali
No one could have ever imagined it that a child could be stuffed inside a Dispatch Rider’s box. If not for the intelligence and security consciousness of passers-by at the Sangotedo area of Lagos State, Saturday morning, a yet to be named Dispatch Rider would have succeeded in the act of kidnapping.
It was gathered that the Dispatch Rider kidnapped the Child and stuffed him inside his Dispatch Box. But the cry of the child was what alerted passers-by who gave a hot chase to the Rider and apprehended him at a traffic point.
A passer-by was said to have raised an alarm
which attracted other passers-by who rescued the child. They descended on the suspect, beat him mercilessly, and were about to lynch him before he was rescued by security agents.
Eyewitness account said that it took the intervention of the Police within the axis to stop the irate crowd from setting him ablaze. On rescue, the suspect was sandwiched between a motorcyclist and another man carrying the baby who only wore a singlet. We could not confirm where they were headed to. But the angry crowd kept hitting the Dispatch Rider who was wearing a t-shirt.
At the time of filing this report, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu, said the case has not been reported to any police station or formation in the state.
He called on the parents of the said stolen child and those still holding the suspect to report to the nearest police station .
He said:”The attention of the Lagos State Police Command has been drawn to a video going viral on social media alleging that a dispatch rider was caught with a stolen child in dispatch box.
“The command wishes to inform the public that the incident said to have taken place in Sangotedo area, Lekki, was not reported at any police station to enable the police take appropriate actions.
“Notwithstanding that the incident was not reported, Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Alabi, has directed that efforts should be intensified to locate the whereabouts of the alleged dispatch rider and the parents or guardians of the child to enable the police investigate the incident”.
Reactions have, however, trailed this development, as social media users took different social media platforms to condemn the act, calling on security agencies and the Lagos State Government to wade into the issue and see that justice is served, and the Dispatch Rider prosecuted.
They, also, called on Security Agencies to no longer give Dispatch Riders an easy passage but to screen the boxes they are carrying, wondering what more atrocities some of them had committed using dispatch boxes.
