•Parades 45 others
By Dayo Johnson, Akure
The Ondo State Security Outfit Codenamed, Amotekun, has arrested an ex-convict Agu Joseph, five other suspected kidnappers and 45 other criminals for various offences.
Agu Joseph, who reportedly escaped from the Okitipupa Custodial Centre, returned to crime before being re-arrested by Amotekun personnel
Chief Adetunji Adeleye, the state commander of the security outfit, said their offences ranged from armed robbery, rape to human trafficking, burglary, and violations of the anti-open grazing law.
He added that the arrests were made in different parts of the state over a period of two weeks and attributed the breakthrough to the resilience of the Amotekun operatives, and synergy with other security agencies in the state.
Parading the suspects, the commander pointed out that they were arrested for various crimes which include, kidnapping, breach of law and order, anti-open grazing, rape, human trafficking, among others. Six major kidnap suspects, he said, were apprehended after operatives tracked their activities in the forests.
Other suspected kidnappers include Amos Kingsley (29), arrested for alleged rape; and 50-year-old Lawal, caught engaging a minor in grazing, an act Adeleye said directly contravene the state’s anti-open grazing law.
Adeleye said “We dismantled a terrible kidnap syndicate operating within our forests. The arrest of one of their armourers is a major breakthrough in our fight against abductions,”
He explained that some of the arrested suspects pretended to be hawkers but were actually informants for kidnappers with one of the suspects, 27-year-old Sadiq, who had earlier been granted bail but jumped bail and fled the state before being tracked down by Amotekun operatives.
Adeleye said, “Today, we are parading 51 suspects arrested in various nooks and crannies and forests of the state. We have 37 suspects arrested for breach of law and order. We have six major kidnap suspects and one case of abuse, which is rape.
”As a result of the activities of the Amotekun Rangers in the forest, we were able to dismantle a terrible kidnap syndicate. 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.
”On those that pretend to be hawkers and pick metals, but are actually collaborators and information-gathering agents of kidnappers and robbers, we have a David Abdul, 22, Abdullai, 27, Sani, 22 , Ahmed, 26, Emma, 20, and Dayo.
ýý”On human trafficking, we have one Ibrahim, 42, and we have one Agu Joseph, who is a jailbird that actually escaped from Okitipupa Custodial Center to commit another crime where Amotekun operatives picked him.”
ýýAdeleye disclosed that out of the 51 arrested suspects, 35 will be charged to a court of competent jurisdiction while the rest will face internal dispute resolution.
ýýHe warned criminals to stay off Ondo State, stressing that the corps was committed to ensuring the safety of the good people of the state.
ýý”So, across the board, these 51 suspects have gone through various stages of interrogation, and about 35 of them will be going to a court of competent jurisdiction, while the others will face the internal dispute resolution method, and if they scale through, we will be able to resolve at that level, otherwise, they will end up at a court of competent jurisdiction.
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