Operatives of the Ogun State Police Command have arrested a suspected kidnapper and child trafficker, Tayo Adeleke, who specialises in kidnapping and selling children to buyers in neighbouring Benin Republic.
Adeleke is currently in police net, where he is being interrogated over an attempt he made with two other men, now at large, to steal children at Omu Pempe community in Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State on Tuesday.
It was gathered that the suspects had stormed the Baptist Church in Omu Pempe at about 2am with a motorcycle.
Their mission, it was learnt, was to cart away children from the church and sell them in the Republic of Benin.
However, an operative of the So-Safe Corps had got a distress call, which she shared with the Divisional Police Officer in the area.
“When the three men were challenged about their mission in the village, they could not give any cogent explanation as they attempted to flee,” it was learnt.
The Police Spokesman, Omolola Odutola, while confirming the incident to our correspondent, disclosed that Adeleke was apprehended with the joint effort of the police, the So-Safe Corps and other vigilante groups in the said community, even as his colleagues escaped through the bush.
According to Odutola, the suspect confessed during an interrogation that, “They came to the area to kidnap children. He said they have a syndicate and they have been kidnapping children and selling them to the Republic of Benin. We have arrested one and he will help in bringing others to book.”
Odutola said the kidnappers have observed that the command has taken charge of the highways in Ogun and they are now trying to go into communities to operate.
“Going into communities to kidnap is the new trend now. We have taken over the highways in Ogun. You will see policemen on the road now. But the kidnappers have got into the inner villages to start disturbing. We will get them; we are going back to the drawing board. Criminals have no place in this state.
“So, we are calling on our traditional rulers, our community leaders in the state, to establish an internal security to barricade the entry and exit points to their communities and give security agents the necessary information to aid the security of lives and property. Villagers can easily identify strangers in their communities; they should help the police. Thank God this was a foiled one.
“The Ogun State Command under the Commissioner of Police, CP Abiodun Alamutu, would not relent until criminals are flushed out of Ogun, wherever they are,” Odutola added.
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