Ondo Amotekun arrested 4000 suspects in five months ― Commander

Commander of the Ondo State Security Network codenamed Amotekun and the Chairman of the Council of Amotekun Commanders in the South-West region, Chief Adetunji Adeleye,

The Ondo State Commander of the State Security Network Agency, Amotekun, Chief Adetunji Adeleye, has disclosed that over 4000 suspected criminals have been arrested in the state in the last five months.

Adeleye who disclosed this while briefing newsmen in Akure, Ondo State capital, said the suspects were arrested for criminal activities which include, armed robbery, human trafficking, kidnappings, and illegal possession of firearms among others.

The Amotekun commander who said the criminals were arrested between January and May this year, said the state security outfit is committed to ensuring a crime-free state, saying his men would not relent on its Operation Clean-Up efforts to eradicate crime in the state.

According to him, the crime rate has drastically reduced in the state, saying, “on the average, between January and May 2022, we have made about 4,000 arrests and through the office of the Director of Public Prosecution of Ondo State, we’ve been able to send a reasonable number of them to correctional centres and prosecution are going on while a diligent investigation is going on many others.

“The criminal suspects were arrested for various crimes including kidnapping, armed robbery, murder, rape, theft, illegal possession of firearms, child trafficking, cultism, human relations violations among others”.

“Comparatively, in the last five months of last year and the first five months of this year, we have a very sharp decrease in the number of suspects arrested. Last year, on maintenance of law and order in the line of violators of open grazing law alone, we arrested close to 4,000 but this year, we have not arrested up to 1,000.

“Also, comparatively too, virtually all forms of criminal activities are on the decline in the state. Unlike before when kidnapping was an everyday issue, it is no longer as rampant as it was within the metropolis and even in the border towns, it is now becoming a thing of the past.

“These are part of the landmarks and achievements of the Ondo State Security Network Agency. You will recall that we started the year on a very good note, in the sense that the December period is usually characterised by various criminal activities but last December was eventfully peaceful until we had the first major carnage in Ose local government.”

Adeleye hailed other security agencies in the state for their cooperation in combating crime in the state, hinging the feat recorded by Amotekun to the synergy am o no the security agencies and Amotekun.

Adeleye said “on the clean-up operation, the military of Kogi partnered with the 32 Artillery Brigade in Akure and men of Amotekun corps as well as the local hunters of all the villages around the border towns and to a very large extent, we were able to drive these criminals away.

“We observed that these criminals come to Ondo State, strike and move back to Kogi. The same thing also happen around Ose Local Government where they strike and move to Edo state through the river.

“These criminals always take advantage of the fact that there are no Amotekun in Kogi and Edo, but that has since been stopped now as the security agencies in these two neighbouring states are collaborating with us.

“The last operation we did, a couple of days ago, we were able to engage these criminals.”

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