The Oyo State Police Command has arrested 47 persons over alleged involvement in kidnapping, armed robbery, rape, hijacking and diversion of trailers.
The command’s spokesman, SP Adewale Osifeso, disclosed this to newsmen on Friday on behalf of the state’s Commissioner of Police, Ayodele Sonubi.
Osifeso said items recovered from the suspects included one AK-47 rifle, two locally-made pistols, two vehicles, 170 bags of wheat, 1,130 cartons of adhesives, and N2.7 million cash.
According to him, the suspects had been terrorising the people of the state and were arrested at different locations within the state.
Speaking about the arrest of the suspected kidnappers, Osifeso said the kidnappers, who were armed with weapons, allegedly invaded a herder’s camp in the Sepeteri area of the state.
“On August 30 at about 1:20 am, they fired gunshots sporadically into the area on arrival at the scene and disposed the victims of their mobile phones, huge sums of money and some other valuable items.
“The suspects then proceeded to abduct the victims and whisk them away to unknown locations, where they contacted their respective family members to demand ransom in the sum of N50 million.
“In furtherance of the payment, operational, technical and intelligence assets were swiftly activated by the command in concert with some members of local vigilance groups in the community.
“During a manhunt for the fleeing suspected persons, two members of the armed robbery-cum-kidnapping syndicate were arrested in connection with the crime,” Osifeso said.
The police spokesperson added that cash of N2.7 million received by two arrested kidnappers as their share of the ransom paid by the victims’ relatives was recovered.
The police also paraded a 34-year-old man who allegedly raped a girl who was suffering from sickle cell disease.
He said the arrested suspect and one other person still at large forcefully threatened to kill the victim if she refused to follow them to a house.