Richard Ginika Izuora
The Ogun Police Command, on Wednesday, paraded 25 suspected members of the Buccaneer cult group.
They were arrested during an alleged initiation ceremony in Abeokuta.
Parading the suspects at the Command’s Headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta; the state Commissioner of Police, Edward Ajogun, disclosed that the suspects were arrested along with three herbalists; who conducted the initiation.
The Commissioner, said the cultists were arrested following intelligence reports. He disclosed that the reports claimed some cultists were planning to unleash mayhem on members of the public; after conducting an initiation rite for new members in Ita-Oshin area of Abeokuta.
He added that the Police recovered battle axes, cutlasses, weed, suspected to be Indian hemp, and costumes of their group.
The suspects were among 59 others paraded by the Police for offences; such as rape, kidnapping, murder, armed robbery, fraud, among others.
The Police boss also paraded three murder suspects who allegedly beat a 23-year-old man; Samuel Ajibade, to death over alleged theft of two mobile phones belonging to one of them.
One Tunde Bello, a taxi driver, who allegedly abducted and raped a 29-year-old lady (name withheld); while on her way to work last September, and collected N140,000 before she was released, was similarly paraded; alongside a suspected fraudster, Daudu James.
The Police disclosed that James specialised in swapping ATM cards of unsuspecting victims and siphoning money from their accounts. At the time of his arrest, he had 17 different ATM cards on his person.
“The suspect had succeeded in swapping ATM cards of two persons and siphoned the sum of N40,000 and N55,000 from the victims. However, he ran out of luck when one of his victims sighted him in another bank, trying to swap another person’s ATM card. The victim raised the alarm and he was promptly arrested,” Ajogun said.
James confessed to committing the crime, calling on government to have mercy on him.
The Commissioner warned criminals to relocate from the state; adding that the Police would continue to ensure that no part of the state was made conducive for criminals.