Ondo Amotekun arrests 250 suspects for armed robbery, kidnapping

About 250 suspects have been arrested by men of the State Security Network Agency, Amotekun, in Ondo state, during the campaign for the Ember months operation.

The Ondo Commander of Amotekun, Chief Adetinji Adeleye said the suspects were arrested at different locations across the state in the last two weeks.

Adeleye said men of the Amotekun corps will continue to embark on patrols of border communities across the state, to flush out criminals and reduce activities of criminals to the barest minimum before, during, and after the yuletide.

ALSO READ: Police arrest man with woman’s breast in Anambra

Speaking while parading the suspects in Akure, the Amotekun Commander said about 250 suspects were arrested but said after profiling them, about 195 were released to traditional rulers in their communities while 55 will be prosecuted.

Adeleye said: “Two weeks ago, we commenced the 2023 edition of the ember patrol, aimed at ensuring that commuters and residents of Ondo State enjoy the yuletide period without fear, and in furtherance, we commenced a 24-hour, seven-day patrol in the 18 council areas and the state capital.

“In the state capital, we commenced street-by-street patrol to ensure that as against the last parade we did that we had so many instances of shop breaking, house breaking, we decided to post both plain clothes and uniform Amotekun men all across.

“As you can see today, we are parading 55 suspects. Majority of the suspects have confessed to the crime. The actual arrest is about 250 but having profile them, we have 55 of them that we believe that the court of law should tell us whether they are fit to come back to the society or go to the correctional services.”

On the alleged crimes committed by the suspects, he said; “Some of them were involved in kidnapping, vandalisation of transformers, house breaking, illegal possession of firearms, threat to life, attempted robbery and a good number of them were involved in stealing of fuel.

“A number of them too were involved in destruction of federal government critical assets that have to do with stealing cables, transformers and we even have a case of arson that we promptly put into abreast.

“We also checkmate the effect of residents who wanted to take laws into their hands by lynching suspects that had issues on accident with okada ridders.”

Adeleye said herders/farmers clashes have been reduced to the barest minimum while incidents of bank robbery have come to an end in the state.

“Again, the yesteryear’s ritual of bank robberies has come to an end in Ondo State. So, we have posted our gallant and able-bodied men in areas that are close to financial institutions to ensure that there won’t be bank robberies in the state during the yuletide period.

“We also say that the herders/farmers clashes have been put in abeyance. It has been reduced to less than five percent.

“Today’s event is different because it’s a general appraisal of the security situation in Ondo State. On pending enforcement, especially that has to do with compliance with rules of order. I think Ondo State has passed that test. On conformity with law and order, we have little britches.

“There hasn’t been serious issues on political activities, students have been cooperating with the security agencies, we don’t have issue with chieftaincy affairs in the state and as we talk, human trafficking has been reduced to barely zero.“