The Ondo State Security Network (Amotekun Corps) has paraded 51 crime suspects, including six kidnappers whose activities have brought suffering to many residents.
The Corps Commander, Adetunji Adeleye, who spoke to journalists on Friday, said Amotekun Rangers raided the camps of the kidnappers in the forest, leading to the arrests.
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“We have six major kidnap suspects and one case of abuse, which is rape,” he said.
“As a result of the activities of the Amotekun Rangers in the forest, we were able to dismantle a terrible kidnap syndicate.
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“And one of their armourers happened to be here today, that we have arrested, and he has confessed to five major kidnap operations within the state.
“We have a 21-year-old Lugag, a 40-year-old Andrew, a 30-year-old Eze Chinedu, and Ime, Yahaya, and their local collaborator, Seun. They’re all suspected kidnappers.”
Mr Adeleye also said the security outfit arrested others who pretended to be hawkers and scavengers, but they are actually collaborators and information gathering agents of kidnappers and robbers.
“We have a David Abdul, 22, Abdullai, 27, Sani, 22 years old, Ahmed, 26, Emma, 20, Dayo, the local collaborator, 27, Marcello Buhari, 25, all in the business of pretending to be picking metals on dump sites when they are actually breaking, stealing generators, stealing equipment, breaking into people’s houses,” he said.
Those arrested for human trafficking, according to him, include one Ibrahim, 42, and Agu Joseph, who is said to be a jailbird who actually escaped from Okitipupa Custodian Centre to commit another crime, where Amotekun operatives picked him.
“On attempted robbery, we have a Kehinde, 30 years old, Folarin, 36, and their collaborators are Aliu and Lukman, 28 and 25 years, respectively,” the corps commander said.
“As part of that robbery gang, we also have Mada, 25 years old. On the rape victim, we have Amos Kingsley, 29, and on the anti-open grazing violation in Akure North and Pelebe, Akure area, we were able to arrest Liman and Abubakar.
“Equally, on anti-open grazing violation, we arrested Isa, 50, Lawal, a minor, and I hope you remember that minors are not allowed to graze.
“We have one Sadiq,27, who was granted administrative bail in the court where the prosecution was supposed to have been going on. He ran away out of the state. We were able to set up trackers to bring him back.
“And we have one Sani, Joshua, and Pelumi, who specializes in breaking into people’s houses.”
Mr Adeleye said 51 suspects had gone through various stages of interrogation, while about 35 of them would be arraigned in court on Friday.
He said the others will face the internal dispute resolution method, and that if they scale through, they would be able to resolve it at that level; otherwise, they would go to court.
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He assured that the Amotekun Corps would continue to strive to greater heights in ensuring the safety of lives and property in Ondo State.
The feat by Amotekun is one of the many breakthroughs in the arrest of kidnappers in Ondo State by security agencies in the state.
However, the spate of kidnappings remains a point of concern in the state.
Besides the regular kidnapping, criminals have also been involved in self or fake kidnappings.
