Ondo Amotekun Arrests 43 Kidnappers, Others in One Week

Fidelis David in Akure

Ondo State Security Network Agency, Amotekun, yesterday, paraded 43 suspects arrested for various criminal offences across the state within one week.

This came a week after it paraded 149 suspected criminals with guns, charms, cutlasses, swords, catapults loaded in trucks, from different black spots across the state.

State Commander of the Corps, Mr Adetunji Adeleye, while parading the latest suspects at their headquarters, in Akure, said about half of the 43 persons were suspected kidnappers.

He traced the development to the heavy presence of security personnel in Ekiti following the recent kidnap of five pupils of Apostolic Faith Group of Schools, Emure Ekiti, and four staff members, and the killing of two Ekiti monarchs by gunmen.

“Today, we have 43 suspected criminals picked from across our various operations across the 18 Local Government Area of Ondo State. The astonishing thing about our parade today is the sudden upsurge in the suspects that we have on kidnapping.

“About half of the 43 are suspected kidnappers that we have reasonable reasons to question. We actually have over 50 suspects, but those that we have reason to question why they were where they were, and what we found of them.

“I want to trace this to the heavy presence of security personnel in Ekiti and I want to believe that they are being driven to Ondo State, but we want to tell you that Ondo State can never be a safe haven for criminals.

“We have risen up to the challenge and all of them that we have picked in kidnap scenes, during kidnap, and during attempt to kidnap with credible victims around to identify some of them, are the ones we are parading today.”