Commissioner of Kwara State Police Victor Olaiya paraded 14 alleged offenders who had been detained for a variety of offenses in the State on Wednesday.
Arrests were made on charges of armed robbery against five of the defendants and crimes related to cults against the other accused.
As Olaiya paraded the accused criminals at the state police headquarters in Ilorin, he named Abdulsalam, Nurudeen Saka, and Segun Tata as three of the robbery suspects who had robbed a woman at Egbejila in Ilorin.
One Opadiran Yetunde (f) of Oke-Jia, Egbejila area of Ilorin, the state capital, reported the alleged robbery incidence on September 5, 2023, at around 1600 hours, according to the CP.
According to Opadiran, about 01:15 on August 5, 2023, four armed men broke into her home, took away her N6.672 million white Toyota Corolla automobile, and hauled away her N2 million worth of jewelry and iPhones. They also had her pay N1.5 million to an account.
After the vehicle was located in Badagry, Lagos State, an investigation into the matter resulted in the trio’s arrest.
During questioning, the three apprehended suspects admitted to the crime, according to the police commissioner. They named three members of their group as Biodun Abolade Ojo, also known as Abbey, Ibikunle Shola, also known as Showboy, and Morufu Oyekanmi, who are currently at large.
The attempt to apprehend them was unsuccessful until October 15, 2023, when alert police officers conducting a stop and search operation along the Eiyekonrin/Ogbomoso expressway discovered two battle axes on Biodun Abolade and his accomplices who were driving a commercial vehicle.
“The three suspects admitted during intense questioning that they were part of a syndicate that originated in Ibadan and Osun State and planned a number of robbery attacks, including robbing the complainant Opadiran at the Egbejila area and others in and around Ilorin, taking cars and other valuables,” the police commissioner continued.
Aje, also known as Ijoba, and Sheriff Shittu, popularly known as Abule, are two more alleged notorious suspects in armed robberies who were also taken into custody.
Along with one expended cartridge, one blue Jincheng motorcycle that was unregistered, and a cut-to-size English-made double barrel pistol, the CP reported that they were apprehended by a CID unit in Ilorin.
During questioning, the suspects admitted to a string of robberies, one of which occurred at Isale-Koto of Ilorin on September 26, 2023, and resulted in the death of Afeez Babatunde.
He said, “The gang also made off with three motorcycles, which they used to murder Gafar and Tunde, two rival cultists, near the Gambari neighborhood of Ilorin city.”
The “D” Police Division, Adewole, Ilorin police agents also detained three additional suspected cultists: Ahmed Umar, also known as Hollybea; Tunde Olarewaju Usman; and Kudus Ajao Okin.
Olaiya revealed that one of the suspects, Tunde Olarewaju, admitted to being a part of the Aiye fraternity and was accountable for the murders of three Eiye cult members: Toheeb from the Omoda neighborhood in Ilorin and KC from the Soj street neighborhood in Sawmill. The third victim was mauled to death at the Lanre-Gada neighborhood on Sobi Road in the city of Ilorin.
