Man arrested for allegedly attempting to dupe police commissioner

The police in Ogun have arrested a 52-year-old man, Tayo Ogunmola, for allegedly attempting to dupe the police commissioner in the state, Bashir Makama.

The spokesperson of the police in the state, Abimbola Oyeyemi, on Sunday briefed journalists in Abeokuta on the development.

He said the arrest of the suspect followed a phone call he made to the commissioner, saying he was an old herbalist and had mistakenly sent a recharge card pin to the telephone number of the police chief.

He, therefore, asked Mr Makama to send the pin back to him.

Mr Oyeyemi said the commissioner was familiar with the antics of the fraudsters and decided to play along with him. He said the police chief at the same time sent men of Intelligence Response Team to technically track and apprehend the suspect.

“At a stage, the suspect, who was not aware that he was being trailed, was presenting himself to the CP as a Deputy Inspector-General of Police who is ready to assist the CP only if he can part with a certain amount of money, not knowing that the person he has been discussing with is a serving Commissioner of Police.”

Mr Oyeyemi said luck ran out on the suspect as he was traced to his hideout in Araromi Phase 2 in Ilogbo area of Ota, in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area, where he was promptly arrested.

“On interrogation, he confessed to being a fraudster who had defrauded many unsuspecting members of the public of money running into millions of naira, out of which he built the house he was living in “, Mr Oyeyemi said.

Meanwhile, the state police chief has ordered the monitoring team to properly investigate the suspect with the view of arresting his other accomplices and arraigning them in court.