MEN of the South West security outfit, Amotekun, on Friday, in Ondo State, intercepted a bus loaded with weapons including over 500 daggers concealed under the seats of the vehicle.
The security outfit also seized some guns swords and knives concealed inside a sack filled with tiger nuts, while all 18 occupants of the vehicle who claimed to be from Katsina State were arrested.
The suspects were paraded with the weapons at Amotekun’s head office in Akure on Friday.
The arrest of the suspected criminals came a few days after soldiers from 32 Artillery Brigade, Akure, withdrew from checkpoints and interstate boundaries across the state.
Speaking on the arrest, the state commander of the Amotekun Corps, Chief Adetunji Adeleye, disclosed that the men who were travelling in three vehicles had moved unnoticed through various checkpoints across the state before they were intercepted.
Adeleye said the action of the drivers of the buses at the various checkpoints necessitated the suspicion and Amotekun officials decided to chase them, saying there was an intelligence report about the planned invasion of the state by some criminals.
According to him, the suspects, who claimed to have taken off from Kastina State in three 18-seater passenger buses before arriving in the state on Thursday, had failed to stop at every checkpoint within the state.
He disclosed that two other buses in which other suspects were travelling in escaped arrest as they were driven dangerously over all the barricades at a checkpoint.
He said it took the efforts of the gallant officers and other security operatives in the state to arrest one of the buses.
Adeleye said: “We got an intelligence that a group of men were coming to invade the state, so we set out our monitoring devices. And precisely at about 1.30 a.m. on Thursday, we saw three Hummer buses that we had actually been trailing till they entered the state.
“They had a brief stop just before they entered the town and our men tried to stop them but 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 by a combined team of police and civil defence men.
“The buses attempted to overrun the security agents and speed off. The speed was so much that they hit all the barricades on the road as they took off again.
“We found out that it was difficult pursuing them in order not to cause an accident, so we radioed our station in Owena and the security men in Owena blocked the road to all vehicles.
“But they were able to escape by hitting the barricades again. We continued pursuing them while we called IleOluji Junction that they should block the road solidly but the drivers, again, escaped.
“We later organised a complete blockage before the Akure Garage in Ondo town and we were able to apprehend them.
“They claimed to be coming to Akure and the driver said somebody commissioned them from Katsina State but that he didn’t know the content of the bag filled with tiger nuts.
“On opening the bag, we found some guns, rounds of ammunition and also found cleverly concealed under the seats about 500 different types and sizes of daggers and poisonous jack knives.
“When we asked them what they intended to do, they told us that they were just given instructions to go and that further instructions would be given to them.”
Adeleye, however, said the two other buses that escaped would be arrested by the security operatives in the state, adding that the arrested suspects would be charged to court as soon investigations are concluded.
Meanwhile, the leader of the Hausa Community in the state, Bala Umaru and chairman of Miyetti Allah, Usman Bello, commended Amotekun for the prompt arrest and for protecting their communities from possible invasion.
The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Funmilayo Odunlami, when contacted by our correspondent said the command was not aware of the arrest of the suspects but confirmed reading it on online platforms.
She said, “We have not been briefed about the arrest of the suspects but we have been reading about the arrest of the suspects on online platforms but we have not been informed or briefed.”
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