The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, Hakeem Odumosu, yesterday advised owners of unregistered vehicles plying the state roads to register them or risk arrest when caught.

Saying the same warning goes to those whose plate numbers had been defaced, Odumosu also told escort vehicles to register their vehicles and get the right documents from the vehicles registry, saying defaulters would be penalised.

The police boss warned escort vehicles without plate numbers and those illegally bearing plate numbers showing names, titles or positions to desist from such a practice, adding that the wrath of the law would be meted out on such offenders.

He gave those who fall within the above-stated categories a seven- day ultimatum to comply with the provisions of the law or face enforcement.

Odumosu said, "Users of plate numbers with special inscriptions like 'Chief', 'Chairman', 'Ambassador', 'Baale', 'Iya loja' and 'Sarki' or bearing personal names are required by law to register such customized plate numbers. Escort vehicles and bullion vans must also be registered. It is not enough to inscribe just the word 'Escort' or 'Pilot ' as it is not sufficient enough to track such a vehicle. Vehicles displayed for sale in various car stands must have the dealer's sticker conspicuously pasted for easy identification.

Odumosu has set up a Special Operations unit to clamp down on violators of traffic laws and embark on massive enforcement at the expiration of the seven-day ultimatum.

He said, The ultimatum will start from January 6, 2020 and elapse by 11.59pm on January 12, 2020. The massive clampdown begins on January 13, 2020 until sanity is restored to our roads. This enforcement becomes necessary considering the fact that criminal elements in recent past have devised means of operating with such vehicles to attack unsuspecting members of the public without any trace.

"A recent example was a case that occurred at Allen Avenue, Ikeja, where an operator of a bureau de change was attacked, robbed and murdered by a criminal gang that used an unregistered vehicle, making it difficult for detectives to track the vehicle. Traffic violators will instantly be arraigned nefore the Lagos State Special Offences Mobile Court."