The police in Ondo State have paraded 17 suspected criminals who included two suspected members of a gang of armed robbers said to have attacked passengers along the Lagos-Ore expressway penultimate Monday.
The gang, the police alleged, attempted to kidnap some of the passengers but were thwarted by the arrival of policemen from the Igbotako Division, Okitipupa, Ondo State.
The robbers, it was learnt, had blocked the expressway that fateful day at about 7.50am, forced the passengers out of their vehicles at gunpoint and robbed them of valuable goods and cash. Their operation was said to have lasted for almost an hour.
One of the suspects, identified as Ibrahim Usman, 19, from Bagudu, Kebbi State, told the police he belonged to a deadly gang of armed robbers and kidnappers headed by one Abdulahi.
Usman mentioned two other fellow gang members as Umoru Mohamed and one Ibrahim from Kwara State.
The Ondo State Commissioner of Police, Mr Undie Adie, explained that the arrested 17 suspects committed various crimes in the state.
Two other suspects, Tunde Akinwumi, 20, and Tunde Akinboyewa, 25, were arrested for raping a teenager simply identified as Joy, 18, and a minor, both of whom were rescued from them by a good Samaritan.
Adie said another gang of armed robbers invaded the granite site of Crunberg Construction Company Nigeria Limited at Omifon village, via Ore, and overpowered the two night guards there before vandalising the company’s equipment.
The police chief said his men arrested two suspected members of the gang, identified as Abubakar Ibrahim, 24, of Omifon village and Mohammed Bello, 25, from Kwara State at Sweet Mother Street, Ore.
He said the two men had confessed to the crime.
Other suspects paraded included Sola Tosin, Lamidi Lucky and Ojo Are, who were said to have been arrested while attempting to dispossess one Shaibu Success of his motorcycle, registration number KAA 045 VS in Owo.
Items allegedly recovered from them were one locally made single- barrel gun, three GSM phones, one packet of cigarettes and other dangerous weapons.
Adie said the police had intensified efforts to apprehend the other suspects still at large, while the arrested ones would be charged to court at the conclusion of police investigation.
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