By Chiemelie Ezeobi
No fewer than five persons including a pregnant woman, were yesterday feared dead as policemen allegedly attached to the Lagos State Police Railway Command, raided an Ikeja-bound train for illegal commuters.
Whilst the raid lasted, the PWD end of Agege Motor Road was in chaos leading to a terrible traffic snarl that lasted for hours. It was gathered that over 20 persons were later arrested by a combined team of policemen from the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) and the railway police command, and recovered the suspect's weapons and ammunition.
Eyewitness account said the police had engaged the illegal commuters who were hanging outside and on top of the train, in a duel which snowballed into violence.
Sources said the police were compelled to go after them because some of the illegal commuters were allegedly armed with guns but met stiff resistance from the suspects.
A top police source said they were compelled to go for the raid after discovering that some of the commuters were fully armed, adding that they had gone to arrest them but met with stiff resistance.
The source however rebuffed claims that the raid claimed five lives. According to him, one of the suspects fell under the train and was crushed while the pregnant woman was accidentally stoned to death.
When contacted, the state command Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, said the officers were under the Railway Police Command and not the state command.
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