Suspected Arsonist Arrested in Ondo

By James Sowole in Akure

The Ondo State Police Command yesterday said it had arrested a man identified as Oladapo Alaba for planning to burn down a popular supermarket, Ceci, located in Alagbaka area of Akure, the state capital at the weekend.

The Police Public Relations Officer of the command, Mr. Femi Joseph, who disclosed the arrest of the suspect, said the man was about to carry out the dastardly act at about 3am on Friday when the men of the command on routine patrol caught him.

Joseph said Alaba was suspected to be one of those hoodlums that burnt down public places in the recent time in the state.

“Our men, while on patrol at about 3a.m. saw the suspect at the premises of the supermarket and immediately he saw our men he ran away but our men chased him until he was arrested.

“We have begun investigation on the matter and in our preliminary investigation, we discovered that he wanted to set the supermarket on fire. We are still interrogating the suspect to know if he was sent by some people or not and also to know his actual intention for deciding to carry out the act,” the PPRO said.

The PPRO also declared that the suspect would be charge to court after the investigation had been concluded, calling on the people of the state to cooperate with the police to expose the hideouts of criminals in their environments.

“We need the support of our people to fight crimes in this state, we, the police cannot do it alone, we can’t be everywhere at the same time, that is why we need the people to give us information about anybody suspected to be criminal or engaged in criminal activities among us.

“We are committed to ensuring that the rate of criminalities is reduced to the barest minimum in this state”