The Police on Monday saved a young man from a mob action after he was caught with a corpse at Alaba International Market, Lagos. It was gathered that the man was a cart pusher at the market. He and his colleagues were said to be in the habit of taking enhancement drugs because of the strenuous nature of their job. The deceased, who PUNCH Metro learnt was also a cart pusher, had on Sunday fallen critically ill. Because of the lack of necessary medical attention, he was said to have died on Monday. The colleague decided to dispose of the body and was apprehended in the process.
A trader in the market, who witnessed the incident, explained that the suspect seemed to be mentally retarded as his explanation of how he came about the body was not coherent. The source, who pleaded anonymity, said, “People suspected the content of the bag he was carrying. When he was confronted, he said that someone asked him to dispose the body. When asked what the content of the bag was, he said it was his friend. “A sane person would have at least tried to defend himself. We also noticed that most of what he was saying was not making any sense. At this point, people attempted to beat him up, suspecting that he was trying to deceive them by feigning madness, but the police intervened to save the situation. He is now at the Ojo Police Station.”
Another trader in the market, who also witnessed the incident, said it was providence that made the police to be on ground to avert jungle justice. The trader, who did not want his name in print, advised people to stop taking laws into their hands. “You know how people behave when things like this happen. The young man would have been killed if not for the intervention of the police. People should stop taking the laws into their hands,” he said A source at the Ojo Police Station confirmed that the suspect was in police custody, but declined to give further information on the matter.A text message sent to the Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Command, Ngozi Braide, had yet to be replied to as of the time of this report.