Six suspects have been arrested by the operatives of the Lagos State Police Command on Saturday for allegedly bringing a truckload of poisonous cow skin, aka ponmo, into the state.
The suspects, who were identified as Adelowo Yinka, Olawumi Onabanjo, Omowumi Wasiu, Adeshokan Taiwo, Iyabo Oluwa and Taye Kazeem, were said to have assembled the goods in a warehouse on College Road, in the Igando area of the state.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Bala Elkana, in a statement on Sunday, said operatives of the command who arrested the suspects acted on information that the poisonous goods were kept in the warehouse.
He said the poisonous ponmo, the chemicals used in preserving them and a truck used in conveying the items were recovered after the warehouse was ransacked.
Elkana said, “On Saturday, May 4, 2019, around 5am, acting on the strength of information from a credible source that a truckload of cow skins, popularly called ponmo, suspected to be poisonous were heaped in a warehouse; a team of police officers, led by the Divisional Police Officer, Igando Police Station, mobilised to the scene and recovered the huge pillage of poisonous ponmo and the chemicals used for their preservation.
“One TATA truck, with number plate, AKD-375-XB, used in conveying the goods was impounded. Officials of the Lagos State Ministry of Health were contacted and after due examination, the cow skins were confirmed to be poisonous and not fit for human consumption. Six suspects were arrested in connection with the case.”
The PPRO said the state Commissioner of Police, Zubairu Mu’azu, assured Lagosians that the command was determined to protect the life and property of residents, adding that investigation was ongoing to ascertain the source and destination of the poisonous food items.
He said the suspects would be charged to court.
