Amotekun Arrests 18 Suspects with 500 Daggers in Ondo

Fidelis David in Akure

Men of the Ondo State Security Network Agency also known as Amotekun, have arrested 18 suspects in a bus that conveyed dangerous weapons, in Ondo town, Ondo State.

Parading the suspects at the headquarters of the command in Akure, the state capital yesterday, the state Commander of Amotekun, Mr. Adetunji Adeleye, said the bus was loaded with 500 pieces of dangerous weapons such as guns, knives, carriages, sword among others, stressing that the items were concealed inside tigernut bags and were being kept under the seat of one of the buses.

Adeleye explained that three buses escaped from different checkpoints in the state but one of them was arrested in Ondo town.

“We got information that a group of men are coming to invade the state, so we set out our monitoring devices and precisely at about 1:30a.m. on Thursday we saw three buses that we had actually been trailing till they entered the state.

“They had a brief stop just before they entered the town and when our men tried to stop them, the three buses escaped, so we had to radio all our control points and we were able to bring the three buses to a stop at a point on Ondo Road. It was a combined team of police and civil defence.

“The buses attempted to overrun the security agents and sped off. The speed was so much that they hit all the barricades on the road and they took off.

“We found out that it was difficult pursuing them and decided that we don’t want to cause any accidents, so we radioed our station on Owena, so the security men on Owena blocked the road for all vehicles. On getting there, they were able to escape by hitting the barricades again. We continued to pursue them while we called the Ile-Oluji Junction that they should block the road solidly there but they also escaped.

“After that we now had a solid complete blockage before the Akure Garage in Ondo town and we were able to apprehend them.

“They claimed that they were coming to Akure and the driver said somebody commissioned them from Kaduna State but that he doesn’t know the content of the bag filled with tigernuts. On opening the bags we found some guns, rounds of ammunition and under the seat found about 500 types of different types and sizes of dagger and poisonous jack knives cleverly concealed under the seats.

“When we asked them what they intended to do, they told us that they were just given instructions to go and that further instructions will be given to them.”

Adeleye, who stated that the suspects would be prosecuted after investigations had been concluded, explained that there was no link between the withdrawal of soldiers from checkpoints in the state to the arrest of the suspects.

The Amotekun commander further stated that the suspects during interrogation explained that they were asked to proceed to Akure and that further directives would be given to them.

The conductor of the bus who refused to mention his name said he was unaware of what was loaded inside the bus, stressing that the bus was loaded in Kaduna State and they were asked to take the passengers comprising men to Ondo State.