The Ondo State Amotekun Corps has arrested no fewer than 80 people for allegedly being involved in criminal activities in the state.
The suspects were arrested since the beginning of the year 2023.
Speaking on the development, the state Commander of Corps, Akogun Adetunji Adeleye, said the suspects were arrested at different locations across the 18 local government areas of the state.
According to him, 32 of the suspects have been charged to court while investigations were ongoing on some of the cases pertaining to the suspects.
Adeleye said, ” In the last three weeks, 80 criminals were arrested. In the last one week, about 32 were taken to court for prosecution, investigations are going on in most of these ones and some of them at the end of the day were found to be victims of circumstances, like those that comes out without a means of identification at odd hours and were found where they are not supposed to be.
“Those ones upon proper interrogation were released to go while some were released on bail.
“But what we have here is about 36 men and women engaged in various criminal activities ranging from murder, to anti-grazing, stealing of motorcycles, stealing of grinding machine, stealing of keke napep, stealing of various household equipment including generators, and armed robbery.
“Majority of these ones have concluded the investigations, and sone of them will be going to court early in the week next (this) week. This is what we have been able to put together since the last three weeks.
“A criminal is a criminal, regardless of where they come from. We don’t want to give colour to criminality, a criminal is a criminal.
“Once you engage in criminal activities, the signal we are sending is that Ondo State is a place where you can’t thrive as a criminal. The criminals should better leave Ondo State, not only within the town, but within the forest.
“Some of these criminals were arrested right inside the forest. Again, the anti-open grazing law is in force in Ondo State where we discouraged the use of underaged for grazing, especially when they engage in destruction of farm products.
“Some of them engaged in very massive destruction. We arrested some of those that were engaged in the destruction of one of the principal officers of PDP that went viral, saying that his farm was destroyed. We caught them and we brought them to book.”
Adeleye added, ” In the last two weeks, we observed an increase in the rate of missing people within the town. And our discreet investigations reveal that most of these people board Okada that are not registered with SITA and are not registered with the okada association, even their bikes are not registered at all.
“So it becomes very difficult to identify them and the majority of the victims that manage to escape that we interrogate thereafter told us that those kidnappers put on hoods and put helmets on it.”
The Amotekun boss noted the arrests were successful following the collaboration with other security agencies.