By Albert Akpor & Ifeanyi Okolie
THE Police in Lagos Monday confirmed the arrest of three suspected assassins who were allegedly planning to eliminate some branch chairmen of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in the state.

Sources said the suspects who were arrested over the weekend were in a hideout planning when luck ran out of them.

The NURTW in Lagos State has been enmeshed in deep controversy since the assassination of its former chairman, Alhaji Saka Saula, in January 2006.

The police under the then Commissioner M.D. Abubakar made some inroads into the murder and arrested some suspects.

Unconfirmed sources said the arrested suspects might have hands in the murder of Saula, but the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Marvel Akpoyibo, in a telephone chat said: “The suspects are not those who assassinated Alhaji Saka Saula per se but were planning to carry out assassination of some branch chairmen of the union. We will address the press shortly over the matter.

“You know, we are proactive and intelligence driven. That was how we were able to round them up in their hideout. However, we will do a thorough investigation to ascertain if they actually have hands in the murder of their former chairman.”

Police sources, however, said the arrested suspects were members of the union from Iju and Ogba branches respectively.

Their plans were reportedly botched after a woman relation of one of the supposed victims changed her mind and alerted the police.

Meanwhile, the three suspects are presently detained at the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Command headquarters Ikeja.