The agency said that intelligence and surveillance gathered recently around the state shows that Okada riders were resuming operations.
The Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Enforcement Unit (Taskforce) on Wednesday clamped down on motorcyclists, aka Okada riders, operating illegally on the Lagos-Oshodi expressway.
The agency also impounded "several" motorcycles in the "hitch-free" operation, Gbadeyan Abdulraheem, a spokesperson, said in a statement.
In May 2022, the state governor issued a fresh ban on the operations of Okada riders, restricting their movements on the highways.
The governor issued the directive amidst the increasing notoriety of commercial motorcyclists in the state.
Clampdown resumption
The agency said that intelligence and surveillance gathered recently around the state shows that Okada riders "are returning to those routes gradually just after the recently concluded Salah (Ileya) festival to continue their illegality."
Shola Jejeloye, the agency's chairperson, said that they are aware of the "influx of illegal aliens from neighbouring countries who trooped into the city right after the Ileya celebrations to resume operations on restricted routes despite the ban on their activities still being in full force.
"Some of the okada operators who had their bikes confiscated in the past have returned to Lagos to resume their illegal operations. We have undercover operatives who monitor various locations across the state, and we have it on good authority that these illegal commercial motorcycle operators are back to kick off their okada business, but we are battle ready for them."
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Mr Jejeloye said that Lagos is a metropolis that welcomes various individuals of different ethnicity and nationality ", but some unscrupulous elements are trying to take advantage of that opportunity to perpetrate their illegal activities at the detriment of well-meaning Lagosians.
"Foreigners who engage in legitimate business in the city are always welcomed, but the Agency frowns at illegal aliens or criminals who perform illegalities, one of which is riding okada on restricted routes across the State."
He reiterated that recalcitrant Okada riders will not be tolerated in the state.
Speaking about the successes of the previous clampdowns, the agency's boss said that the state recorded low accident rates reduction in crime.
"We have recorded numerous success stories since the ban across the board, ranging from a drop in crime rate, reduction in traffic bottlenecks occasioned by their recklessness to a reduction in accident cases reported in the orthopaedic hospitals in Lagos," he said.
"It's our duty and responsibility to ensure that these agents of anarchy are not allowed to return to the Highways, and we will make sure any operator caught would be made to face the music".
"Available security reports suggest that we should be expecting more influx of them after the farming/raining season, but our strategic and security antenna put in place will fish them out, and their bikes will be impounded."
