Operatives of the Ondo State Security Network Agency, otherwise known as Amotekun Corps on Monday disclosed that 27 suspected criminals have been arrested in the state.
According to the Chairman of the Corps, Adetunji Adeleye, among the suspects were four suspected kidnappers and motorcycle snatchers.
While parading the suspects at the headquarters of the corps in Alagbaka, Akure, the state capital, Adeleye assured that Amotekun will not relent in its oars in ensuring that the state remained peaceful.
He said: “We are parading 27 suspected criminals that engaged in various security breaches across Ondo State and across the board, I want to say that despite pockets of security breaches, the security situation of the state is good.
“For instance, on law and order, we have 22 suspects within the period under review. On pending enforcement, there is no infringement. On land and chieftaincy, there are no issues. Anti-grazing farmers/herders clashes, we had six but we’ve resolved five, the remaining one will go to court. On human trafficking, none today.
“We have four kidnapped suspects that are going through interrogation. On the 27 suspects, we have Michael Ojo. You will recall that the last parade we did, we arrested one of the major members of a syndicate that specializes in killing Okana riders, robbing them, and some of them were at large. We went as far as Kogi and Edo, before we were able to track and arrest Michael Ojo who is here on parade.
“He has confessed to stealing so many motorcycles. He said he lost count of them and dispossessed them, dismantled them, takes them out of the state, as in pieces.
“He’s been engaging in it, according to him, in the last five years, but in the last one year, he intensified it because there is now pressure on Okada, and it’s now more expensive. So, he said that’s why he engages in such trade. He operates in Akure and moves to either Uso or Ogbese. He sells the bikes for N30,000, N50,000.
“We have Usman Shehu, Ojo, Temidayo, and Pelemo. Four of them were the people that had been joining their colleagues in kidnapping activities around IKakumo-Akoko. We have the four of them here.
“We have Akerele Ibrahim who is also a criminal that has been under tracking for some time, but this time around, he went and threatened to kill a farmer, having destroyed his farmland in Akoko area too. We’ve been able to arrest him after evading arrest for so long, we have him here.
“On anti-grazing, we have Wakili Ibrahim, who has been arrested several times and since he’s not repentant, he will be going to face the full wrath of the law on anti-grazing charges.
“We also have those that specializes in breaking shops, a shop that engages in the sales of mattresses was completely emptied by them, and they sold these at cheap amounts to people. So, we went after them, retrieved them from those that bought them, because a mattress that would normally go for N100,000 is being sold for N10,000, for 5,000. So, somebody should know that is a stolen material. This is a message for people at home.
“Of course, we have about five of them that stole household equipments and foodstuffs, probably because of the economic situation. Those we would handle them using the alternative dispute resolution method, the ones we can retrieve, we return it to the owner.
“The Amotekun Rangers that was launched has been yielding a lot of dividends. For instance, it is the activity of the Amotekun Rangers that yielded all these criminals that we picked in the border towns between Edo and Kogi.
“And because they are domicile right in the forests there, it’s easy for them to go after. And right now, as we talk, they are in the extreme end of Ose and Akoko, where there are security breaches right now.”
