The Ogun State Police Command has arrested 35 suspected armed robbers, kidnappers, murderers and cultists, recovering stolen vehicles and recovered arms from them. The new Commissioner of Police, Mr Kenneth Erimson, said: “I have sent strong signals to criminals to move out of the state.
“I equally warned all DPOs, operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Anti-Kidnappers Squad (AKS), Anti-Cultism Squad (ACS) and all area commanders to get ready to challenge the criminals and flush them out.
“SARS operatives arrested 10 suspected armed robbers at Mowe and Ibafo along the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway. The hoodlums were arrested in their hideouts and some arms recovered from them. Some other suspects were arrested in Abeokuta and on the Sagamu/Ijebu-Ode Expressway. They confessed and immediately they were charged to court.
“Police at Owode Division arrested a woman, Risikat, for throwing her one day old baby into a pit. It was a member of Ibukun Oluwapo Community Ishaga, Surulere area of Owode Yewa that raised the alarm. The suspect claimed she had no means to feed the child since her husband has absconded. The child is the sixth in the family.
“The Sagamu Police Division arrested Temitope, a resident of Isote, Sagamu, when she was poisoning her two-day-old grand daughter, thereby killing the innocent baby. The suspect said she told her daughter to terminate the pregnancy, but her pastor warned her not to do such thing. She then poisoned the baby with a deadly insecticide known as sniper. The corpse of the deceased was deposited at the Olabisi Onabanjo Teaching Hospital (OOTH) mortuary, Ago-Iwoye, for autopsy.
“Police at Ibafo arrested Blessing a member of robbery syndicate on the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway. The suspect was sighted by the police in the gridlock occasioned by the construction work going. An occupant of a Toyota Camry car was attacked with a knife dispossessing him of the car.
“Two other suspected armed robbers were arrested by officers at the Area Command, Owode-Egba, while dispossessing commuters of their belongings at the notorious long bridge along Lagos/Ibadan Expressway. The suspects, Faruk and Okechukwu, were sighted by policemen armed with dagger and knife with which they were forcing commuters to surrender their possessions.
“Another three members of a syndicate who specialised in vandalising telecommunications companies’ masts were arrested. The case was reported by a security guard attached to an MTN mast in Papa Ibafo area that a group of thieves invaded, vandalised and carted away 12 batteries valued at N1.8million. When the suspects sighted policemen, they abandoned their loot and escaped to the nearby bush. One of the suspects, Adeola, led the police to arrest other members of the gang.
“I have told my officers to imbibe community policing for them to have good relationship with members of the public. This will help to flush criminals out of the state. They should shun corruption and be dedicated to their duty.”