The Oyo State Police Command has paraded 48 suspected criminals and accomplices during a press conference held on Wednesday at the Eleyele Police Headquarters, Ibadan.
Among those paraded is a dreaded kidnap syndicate who were nabbed in connection with the kidnap of a local government chairman, Adeleke Olayiwola, along Iganna/Ado Awaye Road weeks ago.
The Commissioner of Police, Oyo State Command, Mrs. Ngozi Onadeko, said the men of the Command arrested the kidnap syndicate, namely Babuga Mohammadu, 28; Rabiu Mohammadu, 37; Usman Mohammed, 30; and 26-year-old Aliyu Mohammed, said to have abducted the council chairman with AK-47 rifle.
The suspected kidnappers were said to have confessed to the crime after being identified by their victim.
The CP said, “The kidnap syndicate, who were armed with AK-47 rifle, confessed to the kidnapping of the chairman of Igangan LCDA, Adeleke Olayiwola, along Iganna/Ado-Awaye Road. They dispossessed him of all his personal effects and a ransom of N5.5million.
Items that were recovered from the suspects include a double barrel gun and one cut-to-size gun with four cartridges.
Also arrested were 35-year-old Dahiru Usman, Muhammadu Ahmadu, 32 and Ibrahim Mamudu, 20, the suspected killers and masterminds of a farmer, Oluwole Agboola at Akinyele area of Ibadan.
The notorious kidnap syndicate, said to be armed with sophisticated weapons, invaded Agboola’s farm at Adegbede village via Aba -Odo area some weeks ago whisking away their victim to an unknown location.
The CP said, “They contacted his relatives and collected a ransom of N1,650,000, yet brutally murdered him in the bush where he had been held hostage for several days. Discreet investigation by the crack team of police detectives led to the arrest of three members of the kidnap syndicate who all confessed to the crime.”
In another development, Onadeko said that a group of armed robbers numbering about eight, who invaded Ashley Apartment Hotel at number 11, Awolowo Way, Bodija Housing Estate, Ibadan, were also arrested. Investigation shows that they assaulted and dispossessed 22 lodgers of their personal belongings, including phones and laptops in different operations.
The CP said that Folorunso Hammed, 25-year-old man who was said to be in possession of an Itel 2160 phone proceeds of robbery operations was arrested. Investigation revealed that one Quadri alias Fele is the kingpin of the robbery syndicate. The police said further investigation showed that the bandits were responsible for the sack of Wetland Hotel, Olopomeji, Akobo, robbed on January 14 and K-Dream Hotel and Suits, Abegunde area, Orita Challenge, Ibadan around 4:54am on January 19.
Upon a complaint lodged to the Anti-kidnapping Squad of the state Command that one Col. Victor Abayomi was abducted by some unidentified gunmen, some police detectives combed the area of crime. In the course of the operation, they found the lifeless body of the victim tied with a rope and laid in the generator house in a pool of his own blood.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that the two security guards employed by the deceased had eloped to unknown destinations. Sequel to this, one John Matim was arrested with a Samsung phone belonging to the deceased. The initial arrest later led to the arrest of one Zinjbti Nimtim, 24, who was alleged to be the principal suspect.
“Zinjbti made confessional statements of how they jointly killed the deceased and dispossessed him of his money and Samsung handset which was later sold to James Matim. The suspect has been arraigned in Magistrate Court 1, Iyaganku, Ibadan for conspiracy, stealing, receiving stolen property and murder while Matim was released on bail,” the CP said.
In all, the police said that 13 suspects were arrested in connection with the murder of two young girls namely, Babatunde Omowumi and Toriola Kudirat, who were said to have been hit by bullets fired by the hoodlums close to the scene of the kidnap of Alhaja Sherifat Adisa, proprietress of Subawah Filling Station, along Idere Road, Igboora around 7:55pm on January 2.
Adisa, who was whisked away into the forest was later murdered with bullet wounds seen at several points on her stomach. Onadeko said, “On January 5, further investigation revealed that one of the prime suspects, Jare Mohammed, inserted his sim card number 07086824526, on the Nokia phone belonging to the deceased, which was carted away from her during the robbery operation that claimed her life.”
Other cases that were paraded by the Command included the arrest of armed bandits at Ajanla Farms junction, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in an operation on December 27, 2020; arrest of eight suspects who allegedly carted away AK 47 rifle from Sergeant Ola Semiu with Force Number 456624, at Akanran; and the arrest of a 56-year-old lawyer, Remi Oladoye, for defiling a 14-year-old girl, Fatima Souwara, in May, year 2020 at Bodija area of Ibadan after giving her soft drink mixed with sedative.
