The Ondo State Security Network Agency, also known as the Amotekun Corps, has arrested 10 suspected criminals across the state for allegedly engaging in various criminal activities.
According to the corps, the suspects were involved in crimes such as kidnapping, theft, destruction of public property, and robbery, among others.
The commander of the corps, Akogun Adetunji Adeleye, disclosed this while parading some of the suspects on Monday at the corps headquarters in Akure, the state capital. He said the suspects had been terrorising residents of the state in recent times.
Four of the suspects were paraded, while six others remain under investigation.
Adeleye said, “Today, we are parading four notorious suspects. In addition to that, we have another six sets of suspected criminals who were arrested in the last two weeks in Ondo State in connection with robbery and kidnapping. Because we had not concluded the investigation on those, they will not be paraded.”
The suspects paraded include Ogungbemi Adebayo, Nasiru Suleiman, Saliu Nureni, and Ahmed Oladimeji.
According to Adeleye, Adebayo was arrested for allegedly acting as an informant to suspected Fulani herdsmen who attacked villagers. “He confessed voluntarily that he is an informant to kidnappers in the Ademekun power line area at the Ago Dada Camp. He was recruited a couple of months ago and trained by the Fulani men on how to use an AK-47,” he said.
He added that Suleiman was arrested for dismantling government equipment, including a caterpillar, parked in a government yard along the Akure-Ondo Road.
“We have a Saliu Nureni, 57, who was arrested around NEPA market for alleged robbery and setting ablaze the property of the victim, and threatening to kill the victim. We equally have one Ahmed Oladimeji, arrested with the generator and alternator he stole around Igoba in Akure,” Adeleye said.
The commander also revealed that three officers of the corps had been suspended for acts that violated the rules of their engagement.
“As we stand today, the three of them have been reprimanded. They are also declared wanted. We refused to be dragged into the controversies surrounding each of them. But the fact remains that they acted in isolation, and the Ondo State Security Network Agency, Amotekun Corps, remains solid,” he said.
Adeleye explained that the suspended officers would face due process, adding that the corps would not tolerate indiscipline among its members.
“The three of them have been suspended from the corps, and we are looking for them to come and answer as a way of giving them free access to criminal justice. If they are innocent, everybody will see,” he said.