Three persons have been taken to hospital as a group of motorcyclists attacked a police patrol team, beat up some personnel and set their van on fire in Minna, the Niger State capital.

The state police command said 16 suspects have been arrested.

The incident occurred on Saturday evening.

Commissioner of Police in the state, Alhaji Adamu Usman said on Sunday that the driver of the police vehicle, a motorcyclist and his passenger had been taken to hospital for treatment.

The police said their patrol team was returning to headquarters after their duty shift when a truck driver attempted to overtake the police vehicle on the pedestrian bridge at Kure Market Junction.

The truck driver grazed the patrol vehicle, forcing the police driver to hit a motorcyclist and his passenger, leaving them with various degrees of injuries, the police said.

Consequently, okada riders stationed close to the market attacked the patrol team, mobbed three policemen and set the patrol vehicle ablaze.

The trailer driver, who is the principal suspect, escaped in the confusion, it was gathered.

The police driver, the motorcyclist and his passenger are undergoing treatment at Police Clinic and IBB Hospital.

“We have arrested 16 suspects and 20 motorcycles have been impounded,” Usman said.

The police commissioner called on leaders of Amalgamated Commercial Motorcycle Riders Association of Nigeria to warn their members against any act of lawlessness.

He said the command will decisively deal with anyone caught in or linked to mob action and any other form of criminality in the state.

“We will not tolerate any act of indiscipline from any person or group of people,” Usman said. (The Nation)