168 suspects arrested in Oyo-Police

The last four months of every year, otherwise known as “ember” months, have always been a sort of rush period for Nigerians. People struggle to achieve the goals they set for themselves at the beginning of the year.

The period is usually characterised by increase in crimes and criminality. People of questionable characters with greed for wealth would stop at nothing to acquire wealth through whatever means, so that they could showcase a life of affluence during Christmas and New Year celebrations.

Daily Sun gathered that the need to stem the tide of criminal activities in Oyo State made the Police Command to restructure its security architecture. Commissioner of Police, Mr. Samuel Adegbuyi, said in the first part of the “ember” months campaign, men of the command arrested 168 suspects for various offences, adding that 104 among the suspects were still under interrogation.

He paraded the 64 suspects, whose interrogation had been completed at the command headquarters, Eleyele, Ibadan, recently. He explained that 53 persons among the 64 arrested suspects were nabbed for armed robbery, two for murder, three for rituals and unlawful possession of human skulls, three for fraud and unlawful possession of fake currency, two for human trafficking and child labour, as well as one person for impersonation.

Items said to have been recovered from the suspects included 14 firearms, 12 ammunition and cartridges, seven vehicles, seven motorcycles, $75,100 fake US Dollars. The items also comprised knives, a gas cylinder, a sledge hammer, a big wrench, a mask, assorted cell phones, ATM cards, a master key, vehicle particulars, cutlasses, a dagger, fake police identity card, police kits, SIM cards, weeds suspected to be Indian hemp, criminal charms, laptop, and a cash sum of N20,000.

Adegbuyi said: “I am spurred by the imperative of informing the public of efforts of the Oyo State Police Command to vigorously fight crimes and criminality in the state. Conscious of the approaching yuletide and its attendant rise in criminal activities by unscrupulous criminal elements, who are blinded by avarice and who would stop at nothing to acquire ill-gotten wealth during this period, the command has restructured all its security architecture to brace up to this challenge.

“In doing this, the command embarked on intensive stop and search, purposeful and aggressive vehicle patrol, sustained intelligence-led raid and crackdown on ‘okada’ riders carrying more than one passenger.

“All these efforts are deliberate and are intended to achieve desired objective of providing adequate security for all and sundry in the state before, during and after the festive period.

“These efforts have yielded the desired results as many criminals were arrested and stolen property recovered during the first part of the ‘ember’ months.”