Amotekun Arrests 28 Suspects for Terrorising Ondo

Fidelis David in Akure

Operatives of the Western Security Network Agency codenamed Amotekun in Ondo State have apprehended 28 suspects for crimes ranging from kidnapping, rape, illegal possession of firearms, cultism, and house-breaking among others.

The state Commander of Amotekun, Mr. Adetunji Adeleye, while parading the suspects at the Command’s headquarters in Akure, yesterday, said the suspects were arrested across the local government areas of the state in the last three weeks.

While giving a breakdown on the number of the suspects, Adeleye said 18 were arrested for kidnapping while 10 were arrested for illegal possession of firearms, cult activity, and house-breaking among
others.

Adeleye, who doubles as the Special Adviser on Security Matters, said: “The total number of 28 suspects we are parading today shows that we have more kidnap suspects than any other criminal activities. This is in continuation of our efforts at ensuring that kidnapping in Ondo State becomes a thing of the past.

Equally, he noted that among the suspects were two minors (names withheld) ages 13 and 15, who kidnapped themselves in Oka-Akoko and demanded N100,000 ransom from their parents and the traditional ruler of the community.

According to him, “Their parent raised the alarm that their children were kidnapped, and we swung into action but when they called for ransom we tracked the number we were able to arrest them.

“We appreciate the Department of State Service (DSS) for assisting us in apprehending them. When they we negotiating, they even threatened the traditional ruler that if the ransom wasn’t paid within two hours they were going to kill the victims without knowing that they are the criminals perpetrating the act.

“Again, we have people who kidnapped themselves and raised the alarm but upon our diligent investigation, we were able to unravel the mystery surrounding their disappearance to the extent that they confessed.

“We equally have kidnap suspects of some very high profile individuals in society that we are working on. We have a few cases of other possession of firearms, cult activity, or house-breaking, but in all, as soon as we complete the investigation they will be charged to court, while on light offences, we will explore the alternative of dispute resolution.

“We have Coker Noah who held two ladies hostage and employed two other men to torture and rape them for weeks before one of the victims had access to the phone and called us, and we were able to apprehend them.”

The Amotekun leader added: “Also, we have a family where the mother specialises in buying daily needs, including food for kidnap suspects and victims in Owo and Ifon. We equally have a group that we apprehended in kidnap areas and items found on them included several ATM cards to which they could not explain how they came about it, but we suspect that the ATM cards belong to the suspects they held hostage and a lot of other things which they could not justify how it came to them.”

Adeleye also advised the public to be wary of the commercial motorcycles and taxi they board in their daily outings.

He stated further that: “The corps in collaboration with other sister security agencies have carried out several joint patrols to ensure that the state is rid of criminal activities.

“In the last three weeks, we’ve carried out several joint patrols between the military, Amotekun, the Civil Defence and the police, and I want to be specific in the area of Jugbere forest where the joint patrol combed the entire forest from Ilale in Owo to Arimogija, Ute. We also combed the entire Ute forest to the boundary between Ondo and Edo States and we now moved to Akoko where some of these kidnappers were arrested.”