Food looting: Police, NEMA tighten security at warehouses, malls

The Lagos State Police Command has beefed up security at shopping malls and government warehouses where food items are stored in the metropolis to forestall any possible attack by miscreants.

Similarly, authorities of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in the Southwest region said its management had beefed up security around its warehouses in the region.

The move is to forestall any attack on government warehouses and shopping complexes by miscreants who may take advantage of the current hardship and hunger in the country to break into facilities where food items are stored.

Recall that a warehouse belonging to the Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat in the Federal Capital Territory was broken into by hoodlums and a truck loaded with food items was looted by some residents of Dei-Dei in Bwari Local Area of the FCT.

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Speaking after a security meeting with Principal Staff Officers (PSOs), Heads of Tactical Teams, Area Commanders and Divisional Police Officers (DPOs), the Lagos State police commissioner, Mrs Adegoke Fayoade, said plain-clothes policemen had been deployed to keep a close watch on shopping malls as well as key government installations in the state.

Fayoade has also placed all area commanders and their respective Divisional Police Officers on red alert to prevent any breakdown of law and order in any part of the metropolis.

Operatives of the state’s anti-crime squad, the Rapid Response Squad (RRS), have also been directed to keep a close watch on government warehouses and shopping centres where food and beverages are sold.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, exclusively disclosed this to our correspondent on the telephone.

The PPRO said the command was alive to its responsibility of providing security for all and sundry.

Hundeyin said though the command did not anticipate such attack, the deployment was a proactive measure to check any act of violence in the state.

Also speaking, NEMA’s South West Territorial Coordinator, Ibrahim Farinloye, said they had also been directed to beef up security at all government installations in the region.

“All critical stakeholders are on standby for any attempt by anyone. Even though there isn’t a single food item in the warehouses, we are taking precautionary security measures to protect both human and other assets of the federal government from any unforeseen circumstance,” he said.