Ogun police arrest suspected serial burglar, 17 criminals

A suspected serial burglar, Onyebuchi Chika, who had been terrorising residents of Awa Ijebu town and its environs in Ogun State, crossed over to the new year inside police cell as he was arrested by policemen in Ogun State Police Command on new year’s eve.

The police said that the suspect had been the brain behind many cases of burglary and stealing in Awa Ijebu town and its environs in the state.

Disclosing this in a press statement issued and signed by him, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, said that the suspect, who was arrested in the early hours of last Saturday, had been terrorising the area for some time.

Oyeyemi said that luck ran against Chika on December 31, 2016, when a distress call was made to the Divisional Police Officer in Awa Ijebu by the victim of his criminal act and the DPO led his anti-robbery team to the scene, combed the area thoroughly and subsequently arrested the suspect.

“Recovered from him were two mattresses, a sewing machine, a gas cooker and some burglary instruments. On interrogation, he confessed to being a serial burglar and that the students of Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) residing in the community were always his target,” the PPRO said in the statement.

In a related development, Oyeyemi said that policemen attached to Itele Ota Division have arrested 17 suspected criminals during a raid of black spots in the town.

The raid was said to be an effort to rid the Ayetoro area of Itele of crime and criminality perpetrated by hoodlums in their criminal hideouts.

“Recovered from them were bags of weeds suspected to be marijuana, assorted charms, eight motorcycles, a generator, nine different handsets and N123,000 cash,” the PPRO added.

He stated further that the state Commissioner of police CP, Ahmed Iliyasu, had ordered the immediate transfer of the two cases to State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID) for further investigation.