NEVER ACCEPT DRINKS FROM PASSENGERS, POLICE WARN

The warning followed the arrest of a man who allegedly drugged a commercial motorcyclist in Lagos in order to steal his motor bike. Mr Frank Mba, the Lagos police spokesman, who paraded the 36-year-old suspect before journalists, said such food items or drinks could have been drugged or poisoned.

Mba explained that the suspect, who claimed to be a commercial motorcyclist, was arrested on August 24 at Magodo area of Lagos after allegedly drugging his victim.

He said the suspect asked his victim to convey him from Ketu to Magodo area for a fare of N100. He told journalists that at a point along the route, the suspect claimed he had a phone call and after answering the purported call, handed over the handset to the victim.

'The suspect told his victim to wait at the point where he answered the call for the caller to come and give him some money to pay the motorcyclist. While they waited, the suspect requested the motorcyclist to follow him to a nearby eatery, where the suspect bought a bottle of soft drinks but brought out a drugged pack of fruit juice from his pocket. The suspect drank the soft drink and gave the drugged fruit juice to the motorcyclist who after taking some, became drowsy,'' Mba said.

He said luckily for the motorcyclist, the manager of the eatery, who suspected some foul play, invited the police who arrested the suspect. The police spokesman said at the time of the arrest, the motorcyclist had slept off, adding that he woke up two days later in a hospital after doctors had neutralised the drug. Mba, who displayed the remaining pack of the drugged juice, said that the story should serve as a warning to motorists and commercial motorcyclists. (NAN)