The Police in Ogun State on Monday paraded 43 suspected criminals including armed robbers, kidnappers, cultists, human traffickers and murders of a traditional ruler in one of the communities of the state police.
Commissioner of Police, CP Ahmed Iliyasu disclosed to newsmen that the feat of arresting the dare-devil criminals followed a state-wide crackdown to rid the state on unwanted elements making life unbearable for law abiding citizens.
Among the suspects arrested are 39 criminals whose camp is based inside a long tunnel under the Kara Market located at the Long Bridge axis of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
A member of the gang is 34 years old Maiduguri-born Zubairu Umoru, who is allegedly responsible for supplying assorted performance enhancing drugs such as Tramadol, codeine among others which the suspected hoodlums use before embarking on their nefarious activities.
Speaking during the parade of the suspects at the Command Headquarters of the Police in Eleweran, Abeokuta, CP Iliyasu said the suspects were responsible for various criminal activities particularly highway robberies, car-jacking and other crimes on the Lagos -Ibadan expressway and corridors.
Illiyasu explained that the hoodlums were rounded up by the combined team of operatives from the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (F-SARS), Police Mobile Force (PMF) as well as other conventional police formations during a special Mop-UP Operation of the command.
Exhibits recovered from the suspects included 159 bottles codeine and cordrux, 25 packs of Vega 100, jack knives, cutlasses and charms.
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Also paraded along with the suspected highway robbers were three members of a robbery gang who specialize in robbing petroleum filling stations across the South Western states.
The suspects: 39 years old Oladeji Ganiyu, Ibrahim Adedeji (37) and Lukman Akanbi (35) were said to have been picked up from their hideout in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital after they had robbed a filling station in the town as well as two others in Ibadan and Ilorin, Kwara state.
During a chat with newsmen, leader of the gang, Ganiyu, who confessed to committing the crime said he took to robbing petroleum filling stations after losing his job as a petroleum tanker driver of a company in Ejigbo, Osun state.
The suspect also confessed that himself and members of his gang chose to rob on weekends only when they knew that petroleum filling stations would not have access to bank their sales for the period.
It was gathered during the parade that 13 suspects among the criminals were nabbed in connection with the assassination of a traditional ruler who is based in Yewa South Local Government Area of the state.
The police said investigation into the killing of the traditional ruler is ongoing and that if found culpable, the culprits will be made to face the consequences of their action.
Also paraded was one Paul Alanga, a native of Ogoja, Iyala Local Government area of Cross River State who was held for trafficking six children, whose ages ranged between seven and thirteen years.
Alanga, who resides in Siun area of Obafemi-Owode local government area of Ogun State, according to the police, brought the children from Cross River State to Ogun, for child labour.
Other suspects arrested for armed robbery and kidnapping were also paraded, while various dangerous weapons such as guns, cutlasses, axes and assorted charms were recovered from them by the police.
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