Ondo Amotekun arrests kidnappers, other suspects

The Ondo State Security Network Agency, otherwise known as Amotekun Corps, on Friday disclosed that it has arrested no fewer than 51 suspected criminals in various parts of the state within the last two weeks.

Commander of the Corps in the state, Adetunji Adeleye, who disclosed this while parading the suspects at the headquarters of the corps, stated that the offences of the suspects range from armed robbery and rape to human trafficking, burglary, and violations of the anti-open grazing law.

Adeleye, who attributed the breakthrough to the resilience of the Amotekun operatives and synergy with other security agencies in the state, said that six major kidnap suspects were apprehended after operatives tracked their activities in the state.

He said: “I want to state that in the last three weeks, the state has been relatively safe, and pockets of security breaches have been attended to by the combined efforts of all the security agencies in the state. So, to residents and commuters of Ondo State, I want to reassure you that all security agencies, especially the Ondo State Security Network Agency, remain resolute at ensuring and guaranteeing the safety of lives and property.

“Your lives are safe and guaranteed by God Almighty and the support of the state government, and your remuneration is comparatively good with other agencies, so we don’t have any choice but to continue to put in our best.
“Today, we are parading 51 suspects arrested in various nooks and crannies and forests of the state. We have 37 suspects arrested for breaking 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. And one of their armourers happened to be here today, and we have been arrested, and he has confessed to five major kidnap operations within the state.”

According to Adeleye, among those arrested are “a 21-year-old Sus Lugag, a 40-year-old Andrew, a 30-year-old Eze Chinedu, and Ime, Yahaya, and their local collaborator, Seun. They’re all suspected kidnappers.

“On human trafficking, we have one Ibrahim, 42, and we have one Agu Joseph, who is a jailbird that actually escaped from the Okitipupa Custodial Centre to commit another crime where Amotekun operatives picked him.

“On attempted robbery, we have a Kehinde, 30 years old, and Folarin, 36, and their collaborators are Aliu and Lukman, 28 and 25 years old, respectively.

As part of that robbery gang, we also have Mada, 25 years old.On the rape victim, we have Amos Kingsley, 29, and on the anti-open grazing violation in Akure North and Pelebe, Akure area, we were able to arrest Liman and Abubaka.”