By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan.
Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Mr Samuel Adegbuyi on Thursday hinted that 167 suspected hardened criminals were arrested by the state Police command in its first half of the ember month operation.
CP Adegbuyi who stated this at a media briefing held at the state Police Command headquarters at Eleyele in Ibadan, declared that 64 of the arrested criminals were robbery suspects.
“In the first half of ember months, Oyo Police Command has arrested over 167 hardened criminals through intelligence report and information from the public. Of the list, 53 of them were nabbed for armed robbery, three for ritual, another three suspects for fake currency operations, two for murder, one for impersonation and two for human trafficking. Today, out of the suspects who are currently being interrogated and screened, 67 are here for parade ranges from series of offences”he said.
According to the Police Commissioner, others were involved in criminal activities like rituals, fake currency operation, murder, human trafficking and impersonation.
CP Adegbuyi pointed out that most of those arrested with support from the public were part of the robbery gangs terrorizing Elebu, Challenge, Orita and it’s environs in Ibadan.
Emphasizing that “Oyo State Police Command to vigorously fight crimes and criminality in the state”, CP Adegbuyi noted that “the arrested suspects included a team of robbers recently caught while attempting to break into the vault of a new generation bank in Oyo town” identified as Ismaila Olarinde, Moshood Adeniyi, Ahmed Akande and Abiodun with one Saliu Ahmed as the brain behind their operations.
He stressed that a gang of Okada robbers that recently killed a son of their victims along Elebu area in Ibadan after robbing the family of a huge sum of amount, was paraded and that the suspects have confessed to their crime.
CP Adegbuyi maintained that to ensure crime free yuletide season in Oyo state, “the Command has embarked on intensive stop and search, purposeful and aggressive vehicle patrol, sustained intelligence-led raid and crackdown on Okada riders carrying more than one passengers”.
“All these efforts are deliberate and are intended to achieve desired objective of providing adequate security for all and sundry in the state before, during and after the festive period. The Command is “conscious of the approaching yuletide and it’s attendant rise in criminal activities by unscrupulous criminal elements who are blinded by avarice and who would stop at nothing to acquire ill-gotten wealth during this period, the command has restructured all its security architecture to brace up to this challenge”.
