The Police Command in Oyo State on Friday in Ibadan paraded before newsmen 33 suspects accused of various offences such as involvement in armed robbery, impersonation and car-snatching.
The suspects, from whom were recovered seven cars and other dangerous weapons, were paraded at the Command’s Headquarters by its Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Adewale Osifeso.
Osifeso, who represented at the event the Commissioner of Police, Adebola Hamzat, said the suspects were arrested at different locations of the state.
He listed other items recovered from them to include six guns, four motorcycles, 20 cows, a DAF trailer, 14 live sheep, and charms, among others.
The PPRO said eight of the suspects, who have been terrorising the people of Oyo town and its environs, invaded Oyagbe and Obada communities on Sept. 10 while armed with guns.
The suspects were reported to have attacked their victims and dispossessed them of laptops and a huge sum of money.
“However, as soon as the hoodlums left the scene of crime, the victims contacted Police operatives attached to the Command Monitoring Unit who were on an intelligence-based anti-crime patrol, and equally raised an alarm which attracted their neighbours.
“Consequently, three of the armed robbers were apprehended within the community while the scene was also visited immediately.
“Upon interrogation, the suspects confessed to the crime and series of other armed robbery operations they had masterminded at different locations within Oyo town and its environs,” Osifeso said.
The PPRO disclosed that further investigation led to the arrest of two other fleeing suspects and three of their accomplices who usually received stolen goods from them.
“Two locally-made guns which they used for the criminal activity and four of the mobile phones with three ATM Cards carted away from the victims were recovered from the suspects,” he added.
In a similar development, a 62-year-old man who claimed to be a serving Commissioner of Police and Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) has been arrested.
He had been doing this to swindle unsuspecting members of the public.
The PPRO said the command arrested the impersonator on Sept. 6 at about 3 p.m. sequel to series of complaints from members of the general public about his activities.
He said the suspect used fake identities to illegally extort huge amounts of money from members of the public.
“The Command Monitoring Unit embarked on a discreet intelligence-gathering to demystify the suspect and arrested him at his hideout within Oyo town.
“Upon interrogation, he confessed to have been using the fake identity for over a decade to extort money from members of the public, who sought his assistance on police-related matters.
“He has equally used the fake identities to gain so many underserved advantages from junior and senior police officers,” Osifeso said.
The PPRO further said five suspected car snatchers were also arrested by the command’s operatives on Aug. 31 for allegedly attacking and dispossessing their victims of their cars and other valuables.
Osifeso said intelligence reports indicated that the suspected car-snatchers have been snatching exotic cars from unsuspecting members of the public.
”They go on to hand the cars over to their accomplices so that they could be sold to other unsuspecting members of the public,” he said.
NAN reports that a cattle rustler, who murdered his superior and rustled his cattle, was among the suspects paraded.