Date: 2020-05-11

Police in Kwara State on Saturday intercepted about 200 youths suspected to be Almajirai (street children) from Katsina State attempting to travel through the state to Lagos.

The lorry with registration number Kaduna MKA 54 XL conveying the youths was intercepted at Kanbi/Oloru in the Moro Local Government Area of the state.

Spokesman for the police in the state, Ajayi Okasanmi, confirmed the incident.

According to Okasanmi, the youths claimed that they took off from Funtua in Katsina State and were heading to Lagos.

He said, "The Kwara State Police Command, acting on intelligence, intercepted a lorry with registration number Kaduna MKA 54 XL driven by one Shehu Hashim of Manigi in Niger State conveying about 200 suspected Almajirai at Kanbi/Oloru area of the Bode Sadu-Okoolowo Expressway.

"On interrogation, they were said be coming from Funtua in Katsina State."

He said the state Commissioner of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, ordered the return of the youths to Katsina.

He said, "On the instructions of the CP, the lorry and the 200 Almajirai were escorted by fully armed policemen to the border of Niger and Kwara State from where they will return to Katsina State they claimed they came from."

He appealed to the public, especially those leaving in border areas to always volunteer information on vehicles plying illegal routes.