Jaws were dropped as a missing container that was hijacked on Tuesday was traced to the office of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority.
It was gathered that the driver of the truck, identified simply as Toheeb, was killed by some yet-to-be-identified taskforce officials in the Mile 2 area of the state during an illegal patrol in the area at midnight.
The killer officials were said to have accosted the 30-year-old victim who had just departed Tincan Island and attempted to forcefully hijack the truck but Toheeb was said to have jumped out of the vehicle and fled the scene.
One of the officials reportedly shot the truck driver as he attempted to flee, while the others hit the motor boy was hit with the butt of their riffle after dragging him out.
The faulty engine of the truck stalled the officials from taking it away, thereby leading them to hijack another truck which they went away with.
Truck drivers in the area protested the death of their colleague, but it was quelled by the police.
Speaking about the incident, an official of the Lagos Maritime Truck Owners, disclosed that on Tuesday afternoon, members of the association found the truck at the LASTMA yard in the Oshodi area of the state.
The official, who does not want his name in print said, “After the incident, some colleagues of Toheeb decided to embark on a search to locate where the vehicle was driven to. Around 2pm, we got a call from them that the truck had been found at the LASTMA yard. So, the police were immediately alerted.”
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“We were told that the police went to the place and discovered that there were two officials of LASTMA responsible for how the truck got to the place. The Commissioner of Police had promised us yesterday (Tuesday) that he would track the location of the truck. So, we learnt he ordered them to bring the truck to the police command.”
The official had earlier disclosed to our correspondent during a visit to the scene of the incident on Tuesday that the unknown taskforce officers moved around with some other uniformed men, including armed thugs.
He added that some of them wore face masks to avoid being identified.
The spokesperson for LASTMA, Taofiq Adebayo, said the truck was towed by the rescue team of the agency.
He said, “We got a distress call that there was an abandoned vehicle at Cele Bus-stop around 6:30am. In order to prevent an avoidable accident, our rescue team went to the location to recover the vehicle and brought it down to our office.
“We never knew what transpired. It was later that we got to know that they were looking for a vehicle which was discovered to be in our compound. I can’t speak more than this because the matter is under investigation at the police command.”
A police source, however, confirmed that the truck had been taken to the state police command.
“The truck was brought to the command on Tuesday evening after some truck drivers notified the police of its location. Investigation is ongoing to unravel the cause of the incident and fish out the culprits.”
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, could not be reached as calls made to his phone were not answered. A text message sent to him had yet to be replied to as of the time this report was filed.