Barely 48hours after the launch of Operation Puff Adder in Oyo State, the Oyo State Police Command has recorded harvest of criminals’ arrest in the State.
"A group of miscreants decided to test the will and determination of the officers and Men of Nigeria Police Force Oyo State Police Command in dealing with menace of criminal gangs and elements in extreme provocation”, but the determined officers and men of the force acted professionally in dealing with such notorious criminals", Oyo state Commissioner of Police CP Shina Olukolu stated.
According to the CP in less than a week after the Oyo state Police Command paraded 21 notorious armed robbers terrorizing the state, the Command again on Friday at the Police headquarter Eleyele, Ibadan, proved it efficiency in combating crime to its barest minimum in Oyo state.
C.P Olukolu while parading 18 suspected criminals to Newsmen stated that the command’s resolves in fulfilling the core mandate of protecting lives and property and the Inspector General of Police’s IGP Abubakar Adamu marching order of total war against criminal elements in all states of the federation. Stressing on the aggressive drive his officers and men have adopted towards making the IGP’s order and Police objectives a reality, Shina said proactive approach and sustainable community policing strategy was able to combat the notorious criminals in the state.
Oyo CP also paraded “one Adeyemi Morenikeji, 37, who lured the ex-wife of his former employer out from the school where she was teaching under the pretense of taking her for spiritual prayer, but thereafter strangulated her as punishment for her support for the ex-husband to sack him without paying him. He made away with the deceased car and phones.
“The corpse of the deceased was later recovered at a nearby bush along the Awe-Oyo road and has been deposited at the morgue for autopsy.” Intelligent led Investigation conducted by the police led to the arrest of the suspect on April 18 at Sango-Ota, Ogun State, where he had relocated. ” The Vibe Pontiac car of the deceased was also recovered in Mokola, Ibadan, where the suspect was attempting to dispose it off,” Olukolu said.
The suspect told CEOAFRICA that he committed murder of the deceased in revenge for the death of his baby. “My wife was pregnant during the period I was sacked and the baby died because there was no money to take care of my wife during pregnancy. ” But I am now regretting my action,” he said.
The command also paraded three men, Mohammed Isah ,25, Ishaka Mohammed,27 and Adamu Ibrahim,20 who were suspected to have indulged in kidnaping a scientist with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Dr. Elliot Kulakow, an American citizen from the kidnappers unhurt.
He was rescued along with a Nigerian citizen, Latifat Togunde, a member of staff of IITA, both of whom were kidnapped on March 14, 2019, at about 5:20 PM. Exhibits said to have been recovered from them included tree expended shells of AK 47 ammunition.
In another development, Oyo State Police Command also paraded 12 suspected bandits for attacking a police team leader with a machete and vandalising a police Hilux vehicle.
The commissioner said that the suspects while armed with dangerous weapon invaded Ayegun and Fatusi communities to attack innocent members of the public as well as the police team deployed in the area.” The police team did a tactical withdrawal and went to regroup with a team consisting of SARS and Puff Adder while intelligent led policing and superior force led to the arrest of the suspects,” Olukolu said.
CEOAFRICA gathered that items recovered from the suspects included two beret caps belonging to police men, three cutlasses, digger, shovel and one empty cell of cartridge.
On the other hand, the Commissioner of Police, CP Shina Olukolu called on those engaging in jungle justice to desist or stand to face the wrath of the law.
“Let me use this medium to send a note of warning to some unscrupulous elements within the state that are engaging in jungle justice to determine punishment for alleged suspects to stop forthwith and also desist from this barbaric and inhuman act that are inimical to the over-all well-being of the society or cut short the process of investigation and diligent prosecution,” he stated.
Adding that “whoever is/are caught in this act would face the full wrath of the law”.
Finally, CP Olukolu urged Oyo residents to always see Police as their friend in the fight against crime.
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