Fidelis David in Akure
Operatives of the Western Nigeria Security Network (WNSN) codenamed Amotekun have arrested 19 suspected kidnappers terrorising Ondo State.
The state Commander of the agency, Mr. Adetunji Adeleye, while parading the suspects alongside 17 others at the corps headquarters in Akure yesterday, said in the last one month, there were three kidnap attempts in the state but Amotekun was able to foil them successfully.
Specifically, Adeleye said out of the 19 suspected kidnappers, 17 were arrested from a particular area that is prone to attack in the northern senatorial district of the state, while the remaining suspects were arrested for various alleged offences ranging from armed robbery, unlawful possession of firearms to theft and others.
According to him, “Today, we are parading 36 suspects. In the last one month, there were three kidnap attempts that we were able to foil successfully, which means, in the last one month, there has been no successful kidnapping in Ondo State. Today, a cross section of these criminals are different from what we use to have.”
“It is the deviation from the past where we parade 20 people and 15 are kidnap suspects. Today, what we have is more of house breaking and petty stealing.
“Across board, we were able to foil a collection of people suspected to be kidnappers and robbers that we were able to find through intelligence report we worked on. We picked about 17 of them in a particular area that is prone to attack. It is one of the black spots in the state where we monitor on 24/7 bases.”
The corps commander added: “We equally have a suspected murderers; we have eight cases of house/shop breaking but I must say that with the co-operation of other security agencies in Ondo State, we’ve been substantially able to reduce criminal activities in the state. A cross-section of these 36 suspects shows that the level of daredevil robbers and kidnappers have gone down drastically in the state.”
Commenting on the rising insecurity, mostly kidnapping and incessant attacks on residents in Abuja by bandits, Adeleye assured the state that the corps remains resolute in its determination to rid the state of criminals and ensure that people do their businesses normally without disturbance.
“In line with the state government resoluteness, guaranteeing lives and property, we are also determined to make sure that the state is not inhabitable for criminals .We want to appeal to our traditional rulers that once they see a collection of people in the forest, they should alert us immediately. A stitch in time saves nine,” he stated.
