■ Police arrest 2 suspects
By OLAKUNLE OLAFIOYE and SEGUN OLATUNJI
THE police in Ogun yesterday uncovered a ritualists’ den in Iyana-Ilogbo area near Ifo, in Ifo Local Government Area of the state.
Policemen from Sango Divisional Headquarters who stormed the area arrested two middle-aged men alleged to be connected to the activities at the suspected ritualists’ den located inside an abandoned filling station at Iyana Ilogbo Bus Stop, along the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.
The arrest of the suspected ritualists followed a tip-off by some public-spirited residents of Ilogbo who suspected the activities and movements around the abandoned filling station.
The suspects, it was gathered, allegedly fingered the owner of the abandoned petrol station where they were nabbed.
Vigilant members of the community were said to have accosted the suspects while attempting to take the dead body of their victim away from the abandoned filling station (name withheld).
An eyewitness, who identified himself as Dapo Adebayo told Sunday Sun reporter that the two suspects who came to the area in a vehicle about 4.00 am aroused the curiosity of a member of the community who stepped outside to ease himself at the time.
Adebayo who claimed to be the market leader in the community gave an account of how the suspects were nabbed: “One of our people who lives very close to the scene went out about 4.00 am this morning to urinate. As he came out from the house, he noticed a vehicle with two people alighting from it, one of them was wearing hijab. He waited for them to come over to where he was standing since that was the only entrance to the community but when he did not see them, he decided to know what had happened to them since the only building they could have disappeared into was the abandoned filling station.
“So he mobilized few other residents. On getting there, they saw the one with hijab standing in front of the petrol station. Curiously, the person turned out to be a Hausa man. Just as they were interrogating him, the second man emerged from the filling station with a big sack.
“Upon opening the sack, we were shocked to discover the corpse of a man in the sack. They both claimed that the owner of the petrol station sent them. Immediately after that, we invited the police from Sango. The two men are currently with them,” Adebayo said.
Sunday Sun gathered that items such as clothes, shoes, women’s underwear and a school beret bearing Ikotun Grammar School badge were found at the place.
Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi confirmed the arrest of the suspects in a text message.
“Arrest of suspected ritualists on 02/04/2016 about 0700hrs. Upon information received that a group of people suspected to be ritualists gathered at an abandoned filling station Iyana Ilogbo area, based on this, the DPO and anti-robbery teams immediately moved to the scene where the following suspected ritualists were arrested, one Babatunde Taofeek, ‘M’ and one Hammed Hassan ‘M’. A male dead body was found and recovered at the scene including cutlass, clothes, shoes and cap.
“Meanwhile effort is being made to trace and arrest the owner of the abandoned filling station. The suspects are under interrogation. However, the Commissioner of Police, Ogun State, CP AbdulMajid Ali has ordered the matter be transferred to State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Abeokuta,” he said.