Oyo police arrest 22 armed robbers, ritualists, others

• Assure residents of adequate security during ember months
The Oyo State Police Command yesterday paraded 22 suspected armed robbers, ritualists and and fraudsters.

State Police Commissioner, Mr. Abiodun Odude, in a press statement, said there had been a lull in criminal activities across the state due to the anti -crime efforts of the command.

He said the situation changed a few weeks ago when there were protests by the workers of the University College Hospital (UCH) and the students of the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IAR&T).

Nobody was killed in the process because the incidents were handled more carefully.

One of the suspects was one Kola Arobiole, a native of Aisegba Ekiti, Ekiti State.

He was alleged to have been involved in the killing of the late former member of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Gideon Aremu , who represented the Oorelope Constituency at his Alakia residence on July 1, 2016.

The 30-year-old suspect was said to have fled to his village and was incommunicado, until he sneaked into the state earlier the year to lead a gang of three others namely: Taofeek Bashiru and Sulaiman Oladiti.

The commissioner said the gang used motorcycle to rob two victims at a gun point.

In addition, a gang of four that specialises in burgling and robbing residents of the Ologun Eru  and Egbeda areas was apprehended. Various weapons and valuable property including pump action guns, magazines, lap tops, phones, cash and others were recovered from them.

Odude said: ‘’Two inter-state burglars, Ajayi Ojo and Dele Akinbolade, were apprehended by the anti-robbery squad for burgling a shop and stealing.

‘’Two suspects: Moses Eze and Anuma Chukwu, who operate in the Ibadan metropolis were also been apprehended, after they had defrauded one Adebusayo of N1,900,000)’.

“A self-confessed cultist, Sunday Ebubechukwu, 27, was another criminal apprehended. The University of Ibadan drop-out, was alleged to have been arrested along a forest, around the Egbeda area, upon his return from an overnight nocturnal meeting of his cult group, the ‘’Eiye fraternity.

‘’Two wraps of Indian hemp and a locally-made pistol were recovered from him, believed to have been used in armed robbery operations and in terrorising other cult members during rival cult clashes Oojo, Agbowo and other places in the metropolis,’’ Odude said.

Three young men, who confessed to be ritualists, were also apprehended in Ogbomoso town by the state police.

‘They are Alfa Babatunde Kareem, 37, Taofeek Bello, 22 and Adebayo Yusuf, 40. They were said to have been arrested on November 14, 2017, following a tip-off by a member of the public.

‘’Two fresh human heads and legs were recovered from the suspects, who confessed that the human parts were severed from bodies at a Muslim Cemetery in Isale General Area of Ogbomoso.”