Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan
Oyo State Police Command yesterday said no fewer than five persons who specialised in cattle rustling and kidnapping in Ogbomoso area of the state have been arrested.
The command’s Commissioner of Police, Mr. Shina Olukolu, who made the disclosure while briefing journalists in Ibadan, said the five persons were arrested along Ogbomoso/Ilorin Expressway in December last year, adding that 29 other alleged criminals who specialised in armed robbery have also been arrested.
He explained that the command has also recovered one trailer diverted by some criminal elements and two stolen vehicles.
According to him, “On 23rd December, 2019 at about 1620hrs, information was received at SARS Office in Ogbomoso operational base that some members of a notorious gang of armed robbers who specialised in cattle rustling and kidnapping were sighted with sophisticated weapons (arms) in their possession in Ogbomoso town planning to carry out their nefarious criminal activities.
“Acting upon this information, a team of SARS operatives from the command swung into action and laid siege at new Kara market area along Ogbomoso/Ilorin Expressway where they intended to attack, rob and kidnap members of the business community. The hoodlums later arrived at the scene and in the process, one of them who later identified himself as Abubakar Mohammed ‘M’ was arrested while his syndicate members managed to escape. One AK-49 riffle with seven live ammunitions was recovered from the suspect.
“During interrogation, he confessed to be a member of a criminal gang that specialised in cattle rustling, kidnapping and other violent crimes and this later led to the arrest of one other members of the syndicate who identified himself as Babuga Usman with three of the syndicate’s criminal receivers who identified themselves as: Rasheed Ganiyu, Taofeek Salawu and Abiodun Kehinde. Investigation is now in progress to arrest other fleeing members of the gang.”
